You're MY Mate
by Saiyon
Summary: Bella is an ancient vampire, and the accidental creator of the Volturi. She is also a force to be reckoned with, and on a whim to get away from the Volturi, travels the world visiting every vampire coven. It's on this trip that she meets a certain blonde who she recognizes as her mate. The only problem is, her mate and her mate's family hates the Volturi. Irina/Bella.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: This is a warning, I might not continue with this if people don't like, and even if I do, it's not going to be as often as I used to with all of my stories, mostly because I'm still trying to get back into the zone. My main reason for posting is a test of sorts, but if enough people like it, then I'll continue this too; although I might not be able to read those comments at the moment, since something is screwy with the reviews. Still, thanks for the interest!_

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Chapter 1

Bella had just finished draining a man who had tried to rape her when she sensed some familiar presences heading toward her fast. _Ugh, not again. They're a bunch of killjoys,_ she thought with disgust as, with an absent flick of her wrist, she set the drained man on fire. The fire was so hot and so contained that in seconds, only ashes remained.

"Pardon the interruption, Isabella. We've come to bring you back to the castle," Demetri said with a deep bow as he, Santiago, Jane, and Alec appeared in front of her.

"No," Bella replied bluntly, crossing her arms over her chest. "When will those old bastards get it through their heads that I'm tired of just lounging around the castle, not doing anything? I get bored!"

"But you're older than they are," Santiago mumbled under his breath, and Bella sent him a glare that lit his pants on fire. The vampire yelped and started to run around, frantically patting at the flames, only to find that the fire didn't hurt. After the panic had subsided, Bella let the fire fizzle out, leaving his pants unharmed.

"Sorry, but we're just following orders. We're to bring you home, effective immediately. You aren't mad, are you?" Alec asked, giving Bella his big doe eyes––her only weakness.

"Ugh...no, I just...stop looking at me like that!" Bella snapped, turning away so that she no longer had to look into the boy's eyes. She heard Jane snicker, and would have turned around to remind her what a bad idea it was to laugh at her, of all people, but she knew that if she did, she might catch Alec's eyes again, and that just wouldn't do. "Look, tell those grumpy old bastards that I'll come back when I feel like it. Why are they so afraid of me running solo for awhile, anyways?"

"Remember the last time you got bored?" Demetri asked dryly. Bella tried to feign innocence and confusion, but no one believed it for a second as Demetri continued. "Tolima? November 13th, 1985? The _volcano_? Does the term _La Mesa de Herveo_ mean anything to you?"

"I just wanted to see what would happen!" Bella protested, knowing that she couldn't pretend not to remember any longer. "It wasn't that big of a deal, right?"

"It killed over twenty thousand people and was recorded as one of the biggest natural disasters in history," Demetri reminded her dryly. "The three kings just don't want something like that happening again, and can you really blame them?"

Bella shook her head and tightened her crossed arms over her chest, lower lip sticking out in a pout. "But I didn't _know_ that was going to happen. And I was so bored! When you get to be over five thousand, there just really isn't much to do anymore. What else am I supposed to do, repeat high school over and over again like those Cullens?"

"You'd have to do college, I'm afraid. You wouldn't be able to pass for a high school student," Santiago piped up, earning another glare from Bella that ended up with his hair on fire this time. He started to scream and run around in circles, and it seemed that Jane had had enough, since she sent him a glare that had him rolling on the floor in agony.

"He only meant that you would stand out too much, love," Alec said with a sweet grin, putting a hand on Bella's arm. "You're beyond gorgeous, and you would never be able to fit in in something as mundane and boring as a high school."

"Aw, Alec," Bella cooed, wrapping the boy in a huge hug. "You're so cute and charming and just...ugh! Why couldn't you and Jane have been my kids instead of stupid old Aro? If only I had found you first…"

Alec let out a low laugh and hugged the eccentric vampire back. Even Jane stopped torturing Santiago and looked up at Bella with surprise as she realized she had been included. Next thing she knew, a forceful wind pushed Jane into Bella's waiting arm, and she found herself grumbling, even a little embarrassed, as she was forced to endure Bella's near skin cracking embrace. Santiago laid on the ground thankfully, free of both Jane's and Bella's gifts and almost afraid to get up and reclaim their attention.

"You know, you can always come with me," Bella said with a conspiring grin. "Just you two and me."

"I don't think Aro would appreciate that," Alec replied, his voice muffled against Bella's generous breasts.

"We're the Witch Twins, Isabella; we have duties," Jane added stiffly, her voice just as muffled as Alec's.

"Damn it, Aro, ruining my fun again!" Bella grumbled as she finally released the two vampires. "If only I had been in England a few hundred years ago…" Bella continued to grumble to herself, petulant once more.

"So, Isabella, about returning to Volterra with us…" Demetri interjected softly, not wanting to rile up the vampire who could level an entire town with a simple thought.

"Oh. That's still a no," Bella said, turning back to the man. "Sorry." She didn't sound sorry at all, but nobody called her on it. "So, are we done with this talk, or do you have more to say?"

"Isabella please, we really need you to come with us," Demetri begged, taking a step towards the older vampire, only to quickly backpedal when he caught her eyeing his pants. "the three kings won't be happy if we fail."

"Then just say I'm doing something important, like...checking in on the covens from around the world. Yeah, that'll be perfect!" Bella said, lighting up with excitement at her own idea. "I'm gonna go do that now, actually. There's so many covens, who knows how long it'll take." And it would be a perfect way to relieve her boredom, too!

"Wait, think about this for a second. Are you really going to travel around the world and check in on every coven? Not to be rude, but those vampires are not your toys," Demetri stressed before Alec could so much as open his mouth to warn him. Bella set his entire body on fire, and he yelped with fear. Before he could try to pat it away, the flames vanished.

"You seem to forget something, child," Bella said with an almost cruel smirk. "No vampire would be alive today if it weren't for me. The least they can do is put up with me for a day or two before I continue on my way." She flashed over to Demetri, getting on her tiptoes to add in a whisper, "And you can tell Aro, Caius, and Marcus that if they want to continue ruling the Volturi, they better let their sire have some fun."

Demetri swallowed unnecessarily as he found himself no longer addressing Bella, but the Queen of vampires. He nodded swiftly, jerkily, and took a step back so he could give the woman a proper bow. "Of course, my Queen. I'll deliver your message."

"Just remember," Alec piped up as he elbowed Jane, who was staring at Bella with an impressed look on her face. "Your existence is kind of a secret, so none of these vampires will actually know who they're addressing if you were to visit, save that you're very old. Maybe you should tell people you're a nomad."

Bella narrowed her eyes playfully at the boy vampire. "Are you comparing me to those three lazy men who sat on their thrones for so long their skin became papery?"

"Of course not," Alec said, grinning at Bella's tone. "But you do have an aura of power that very few posses. Not even a newborn would mistake you for weak or young."

"Nice save, my good boy. Now, unless you and Jane would like to join me on my voyage without Aro's permission, I suggest you and those two annoying bastards get a move on. The sooner you deliver the news of my adventure, the sooner they'll stop being so damn grumpy," Bella said with a kiss to Alec and Jane's cheek as she started to almost dance down the alley, graceful even for a vampire.

"Just try not to break anyone!" Alec called after her cheerfully.

"Or just break them in a way that they can recover from," Jane added with an evil smile. "That way, Aro can't get too mad."

"Noted!" Bella laughed, and then she was gone.

Once the ancient had left not just the area, but had gone far beyond their ability to sense the woman, Demetri turned to the twins with a scowl.

"I don't know how you got on her good side, but I want you to teach me," he grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Oh no, me first!" Santiago protested, running through his amazingly unscathed hair. "I need to learn what to do to stop being Bella's punching bag." The last was said in a grumble. For some reason, since the moment he had joined the Volturi, he was always the one most likely to receive Bella's power, fist, palm, kick, or even headbutt.

"But then who will be there to help calm Isabella down?" Jane asked with a smirk of evil amusement.

"I don't know, and I don't care; as long as it's not me," Santiago muttered, then collapsed to the ground, thrashing in pain as Jane unleashed her gift on him. It seemed the man had forgotten exactly who he was addressing, and what was the proper tone he should be using.

"Will you stop fooling around, Santiago?" Demetri demanded in annoyance. "We need to get back and give the kings our report."

Jane released her power at Alec's nudge, absently taking her brother's hand, as Santiago laid on the ground, trying to get his strength back.

"Why is it always me?" he moaned pitifully, then jumped to his feet.

The kings were, needless to say, not pleased with the report they were given. Yet just by glancing at Alec and Jane, Aro could see the dark look in their eyes, and realized that it wasn't Bella who was telling them to stay away; it was an order from their queen, and the three kings' sire. And to try and go against such an order meant dangerous retributions that even he might not be able to withstand.

"Damn whimsical woman," Caius muttered angrily, seeing the same truth that Aro had. Marcus only laid his hand on Aro's shoulder, and Aro was not at all surprised to find that the twins' bond had strengthened with Bella's once again. He only wondered if that bond would ever stop getting stronger, as this had been going on since Bella had first met the twins when they were only newborn vampires and had promptly nearly cuddled them to an early demise.

Still, even if it was the Queen speaking, they couldn't just let Bella run wild; he really didn't want to have to deal with another crazy problem like the volcano eruption only twenty years prior. And since the twins had their bond to Bella…

"Alec, Jane, I'm giving you a new assignment," Aro stated, and immediately the two vampires stood at attention. "You are to find and stay with Isabella unless I otherwise call you back. And please," he added, his eyes searching theirs for them to understand how much this meant to him, "Try to keep the woman out of trouble."

"We'll do our best, Aro, but we can offer no guarantees," Alec replied honestly as Jane scowled at their new dilemma.

"That is fine," Aro sighed, knowing not to force them to make a promise they couldn't keep. After all, he knew that no one, vampire or otherwise, could stop Bella when she decided she wanted something.


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's Note: Finally! Finally, I'm done with chapter 2. I'm so sorry for the long wait, as I usually get the first few chapters of a story up pretty quickly, but I've been struggling with writing at all. But hey, I'm getting there, right? Also, people who ask me questions as a guest/anonymous, please, PLEASE, create an account or something. I can't keep all of your questions in my head and then remember to answer them as author's notes and such. Finally, thanks for reading!_

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Chapter 2

Bella was delighted the second she started visiting all of the covens. It was one of the most exciting ideas Bella had ever come up with; she couldn't believe she hadn't thought of this sooner! She got to travel the world, play with vampires, and those stupid children of hers couldn't do anything about it.

The first coven Bella came across was the Amazon Coven––one of the few covens who actually knew who Bella was. It was great catching up with them, and Bella kept the coven engaged with stories of the outside world––although she might have exaggerated just a teensy, eensy bit––since they never left their forest. Bella also got to enjoy Zafrina's gift quite a bit, although the coven leader balked or rolled her eyes at many of Bella's suggestions.

Going to Mexico was beyond boring, as many were still focused on the olden days. Maria could have been a much more interesting, but she was a little obsessed with keeping her territory to be much fun. Bella was, in fact, so bored, that she let Maria chase her out.

Next, she wanted something interesting, so Bella decided to skip the two borish animal drinking covens, at least for now, and instead visited the Australian, English, French, Greek, and Irish covens. Out of them all, she only had some fun with the French coven, including an interesting encounter with a certain new French vampiress who was quite fun in bed. Sadly, the only other interesting bit within those covens was a vampire named Maggie, whose gift fascinated Bella to no end. Bella wanted to take Maggie with her to keep things interesting, but Siobham and Liam were very firm when they stated that Maggie would stay with them. Bella almost considered pulling the Volturi Queen card to make them change their minds, but then remembered her journey wasn't exactly safe for younger vampires. After all, Bella made sure to save the best for last; the Romanians. Although, technically, they weren't a coven with only two members, Bella wasn't going to skip them.

Let's just say, they were not happy that she joined them. She, on the other hand, was quite delighted by their response.

"What are you doing here, bitch of the Volturi?" Stefan spat, trying to look dangerous even as he backed away.

"I'm just here to check up on you all, make sure you're not causing any trouble," Bella said cheerfully, running a hand along the wall as she regarded their living conditions. Then she promptly set their collection of books on fire. "Oops."

Of course, this made both vampires lunge at her, and she promptly kicked their asses––one of them actually went flying quite high into the sky, and Bella started playing a game of hacky sack with his body, trying to see how high she could get him to go before he managed to touch the ground.

When she was done, they were missing all of their limbs and would be in desperate need of blood. She stared at them, trying to figure out what to do next. Technically, she could kill them for attacking her, but she _was_ the one who provoked them...and they were just so damn fun to mess with.

"Congratulations, boys, you get to live another day," Bella said with a huge grin before walking away. She wondered if any other coven would be as much fun as they had been. She sure hoped so, although she didn't have any hopes for the Olympic and Denali covens. There was a reason she had avoided those stick in the mud vampires for so many years.

Bella frowned at that, realizing she would actually have to visit those two covens of killjoys if she wanted to keep the pompous asses that she had created off her own gorgeous, firm, and drool worthy butt. So Bella had no choice but to eventually endure them at the very end, and stay as short a time as possible.

Next up, Bella visited the Egyptian Coven. To say Amun was terrified to see her was beyond an understatement. While the vampire didn't know exactly who she was, he knew she was a part of the Volturi, and Bella knew that if the man hadn't been a vampire, he would have died from a heart attack right in front of her.

"Hey, Amun, Kebi," Bella greeted in Arabic with a large smile as she sauntered towards them. Then her eyes moved to the other two vampires who Amun was unsuccessfully trying to hide with his body. Really, for a man who spent most of his paranoid existence avoiding and hiding from the Volturi, Bella thought he'd be better at keeping a secret. "And who are these two? I haven't seen them before."

"These are just vampires," Amun quickly replied, to which Bella rolled her eyes. No duh. What else would Bella think they were, flying unicorns? "My coven is small, as you know, and I wanted to simply make a bigger one. No big deal."

Just by the way Amun spoke, Bella could tell they were a very big deal indeed. "Bella," Bella said. As her eyes slid over to the female of the two, she put on her best charming smile. The girl was, after all, quite beautiful, and while Bella loved messing with Kebi just to get that disgusted and fearful reaction from Amun, Bella preferred charming someone who might actually end up in her bed. "And you are?" She held out her hand to the female first, making sure to prolong eye contact.

"Tia," the girl said, and Bella could tell she was stifling an eye roll. Good. Bella loved girls with spunk in them, and loved them even more when they didn't fall for Bella's gentlewoman shit. It made the challenge all the more exciting.

"And I'm Benjamin," the boy of the two added with a grin of his own, his eyes dancing with humor as he took Bella's free hand, as the other one was still holding onto Tia's.

"I'm Benjamin's mate," Tia added.

"Huh," Bella murmured, examining the boy and girl in turn. Noticing how stiff Amun was, Bella prolonged the contact, just to torture him further. She finally turned to Benjamin, and Amun's twitchy reaction told Bella all she needed to know. "You're a lucky man."

"I know," Benjamin replied, shooting a loving look at Tia.

Damn. It looked like they were both lucky, the bastards. Bella herself had been on this planet for over five thousand years, and she hadn't had the luck to find her mate. Yet these children have been alive for, what? Three hundred years? Four hundred? And they're already as happy as can be!

Bella dropped Tia's hand and held one of Benjamin's hands with both of hers. By then, Amun was almost shaking, and Bella knew that his reason for turning the boy wasn't just some kind of empty nest syndrome. "So, Benjamin, what's your gift?"

"Do not answer that! She is Volturi!" Amun shouted fearfully before Benjamin so much as blinked, and Bella couldn't stop herself from laughing. She also felt a little bit excited by Tia's protective response. What could Bella say? She loved feisty women, whether they were taken or not. They were just lucky that Caius had created that "no stealing mates" rule after Bella had managed to actually come between quite a few mates back in the old days. While Bella did love getting into the pants of hot women, she would hate to upset such an interesting boy.

"Well, now that I know he does indeed have a gift," Bella started, cocking her head to the side as she stared deeply into Benjamin's incredibly intelligent eyes, "I have to say, he doesn't really have a choice. So, what is it, kiddo?"

"I can control the elements," Benjamin answered, knowing better than to lie.

It was unsure exactly how anyone expected Bella to react, but it sure wasn't expected for her eyes to light up as she squealed and jumped up and down like an over excited teenager.

"Really? You're not joking, right?" Bella demanded eagerly. When Benjamin shook his head, Bella threw her arms around the man, giving him a hug so tight it made his skin crack and caused the boy to hiss in pain. Bella loosened her grip. "Oops, sorry, I still tend to forget my own strength. But you need to show me this!"

"Don't do it––"

"Oh, shut up Amun, or I'll have to kill you for intervening in Volturi affairs." Bella then shot an overly sweet smile over her shoulder. "And we both know that we don't want that." Then she focused completely on Benjamin, squealing and clapping and bouncing in excitement. "Now, where were we?"

"Showing off my gift, right?" Benjamin asked with another childish grin, to which Bella nodded eagerly. He didn't look to anyone for permission before simply letting the earth crack open, pulling water from deep in the earth, and then, at Bella's insistence, used wind to push her into the air.

"I'm flying! Wooo! I'm some kinda sexy birdy shit!" Bella hooted, and then, when she was finally put down, she started pouting and complaining. Benjamin had no idea how to make her feel better, but Bella quickly brightened on her own.

"You have no idea how amazing this is. Your gift is a lot like one of mine!" Bella explained quickly, before creating fire in the palm of her hand. "See?" Amun gasped with fear, pulling both himself and Kebi back. When he tried to reach for an amazed and awed Benjamin, Bella frowned and flicked some fire his way, making him shriek like a little girl. "Now, now. No reason to interrupt our show and tell, cranky butt. Just sit back and stay quiet."

At that, Benjamin and Tia both let out a low laugh, although Benjamin tried to stifle it as he shot his maker an apologetic look.

To Amun's horror, this was the beginning of a long visit, with a pretty rude, uninvited guest all but "crashing on his couch." Still, it was only a month or so before Bella decided it was time to move on...although, she insisted she'd have to visit a few more times before the century was over, just in case.

Then, Bella realized she had to reach a decision. Should she head for the killjoy covens, or...well, Bella did say she had to visit _all_ of the covens, right?

* * *

Jane felt like she was at her wit's end, and it took everything she had to pull herself together when she got a call from Caius.

"Yes, master?" Jane answered, keeping her voice void of all emotion.

"What do you two think you're doing? Where are you?" Caius demanded irritably. "You were supposed to be catching up with Isabella!"

Alec quickly snatched the phone from his sister, sensing how close she was to exploding. "Yes, we're on her trail now," Alec said, his voice soothing.

"Oh, are you now? Because Isabella just showed up. HERE. TO MOON US DURING AN IMPORTANT MEETING," Caius all but shouted, clearly furious. "Then she said she was just 'checking up on us' and 'keeping us out of trouble' before she set the monument to us on fire, kidnapped Heidi, and ran away!"

Alec and Jane exchanged a stunned look. As far as they had known, they were hot on her trail in Antarctica. Could it be another of Bella's powers at work?

"Is everyone alright?" Alec asked, concerned.

"Yes. We recently found Heidi again in an...indecent state," Caius said with a sniff that even made Jane choke on a laugh. "She said she's still checking out covens, and that the killjoy covens were next, whatever that means. Find her before she does something crazy again, do you understand?"

Before Alec could answer, Caius hung up. Sighing, Alec turned to Jane.

"Heidi is still getting it from Bella, I see. I bet they're still doing that weird play they found out about twenty years ago. It would explain the kidnapping and the indecent state she was found in," Jane said with a completely straight face, which made Alec start laughing loudly.

"Although, coming from Caius, 'indecent state' could mean having her buttons undone," Alec added, which made Jane laugh a little too.

"We still need to find her," Jane said, sobering thoughtfully. "Killjoy covens…"

Once again, a look was exchanged between them. They knew exactly which covens Bella was talking about. Now, the only question was, which coven would Bella visit first?

Alec sighed once again. "I really wish Isabella would get a cellphone."


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's Note: Another day, another chapter. I'm proud to say I definitely am getting back into writing, and am on a roll here. You might even get another chapter of this story today; if not, definitely tomorrow. Thanks for reading, and please tell me what you think. It helps me write more!_

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Chapter 3

 _Should I save the worst for last, or should I try to end this trip on a good note?_ Bella wondered to herself with a frown. Either way, the trip wasn't going to end on a good note, as she was stuck picking between the two killjoy covens. Damn it, she should have waited to visit the Romanians. It would have been good to play with them after she had most of the fun sucked out of her.

Wait a second...who said that visiting all of the covens once meant her little fun trip had to end? She could just visit some of the covens a second time, maybe even a third! A follow up, Bella reasoned. That was as good of an excuse as any. Anything to prolong her return to Volterra, where her stupid buttwipes would try once again to contain her. Yeah, Bella had a few gifts and tricks up her sleeves, but she wasn't that dangerous, right? Any vampire could thin the human population at will...although not many could do it by creating a natural disaster, no matter how accidental that had been.

Right. So she could just visit the Romanians again after she was done with the two killjoy covens. The Egyptians, too––she really wanted to play with Benjamin, Tia, and Amun again. The two newest members were incredibly interesting, and while Kebi and Amun were beyond boring, especially since Bella was sure Kebi was empty of brains, personality, and probably even a voice, it was always funny to get Amun all worked up.

Worst coven for last it was, then. That way, she wouldn't have to be tortured for very long with no way to let out her frustrations. And Bella knew without a doubt who the biggest killjoys were; the Cullens. So that meant Bella was going to visit the Denalis first. At least there, she could mess with Eleazar and Carmen. Yeah, they had become a little more boring, but at least Eleazar knew who she was. Not that he was allowed to tell anyone, so...Bella was pretty curious as to how her stay would turn out.

"Going to Alaska, to mess with, some vampires," Bella sang softly as she started skipping in the direction of North America. "These vampires, are boring, but I can still have some fun, yay!" Ugh. Bella really needed to work on that.

It wasn't long until she was in Canada, heading fast for Alaska. She only stopped three times to drink from some humans, as she knew the Denalis' views on human drinking. She wanted her eyes to be bright red upon meeting them, not just to get on their nerves, but because she still had to respect them to a small degree and not drink from humans in their territory. That would be rude, and while Bella was a lot of things, rude she was not––okay, she was, but still. Some rules Bella could respect at times, and this was one of the few.

Running through so much forest was quickly growing tiresome, so Bella found herself speeding up even more. How could any vampire live out here? It was all so boring! Nothing but white and brown, everywhere she looked.

Bella felt like her brain was about to melt from all the nothingness, when she caught another vampire's scent. Blackberries and winter, with a dash of something light, something that hinted at a change of seasons to something brighter and happier. It smelled good, but weird at the same time.

 _Welp, looks like I found them,_ Bella thought excitedly. Meet and greet, stay a few days, torment them a little...and if they actually do prove to be interesting, then maybe stay a little longer. That's all Bella had to do.

Turning abruptly, Bella started running in the direction of the vampire, wondering how she would be received. It was only when Bella caught sight of the vampire, however, that all thoughts fled her mind.

 _My mate!_ Too excited to think straight, especially after so many centuries alone, Bella didn't pause, didn't slow down, didn't so much as give any kind of warning. Instead, she kept running until she ran right into the blonde, tackling her to the ground.

Irina didn't hear anything, not a single thing, before someone tackled her from the side. She quickly tried to right herself, but whoever it was was strong and fast, much more so than even her, and Irina found herself pinned in moments. The blonde started to snarl a warning, only to get hypnotized by her attacker.

The woman above her was beautiful. Her hair was a dark brown with red highlights, which only seemed to make her red eyes glow brighter. While she was still pale, her skin held a bronze tinge that looked almost like a tan. She clearly had a tight body, with perfectly sized breasts and curvy hips. And her face was something so gorgeous that Irina felt it belonged on a goddess, not a vampire. The other vampire was also had a huge, blinding grin on lips, one that turned into a confused frown after a moment.

Could this be? After all of these years, could Bella really be mated to one of the killjoys? Bella quickly brightened again, however, realizing that no matter what her mate might drink or how her mate might ask, boring her mate was not. It was actually impossible for her to be that way, not if she was mated to someone like Bella.

"Hello, my mate. I'm Isabella," Bella said with a sexy smile as she leaned over the blonde, resting a forearm on the side of the blonde's head to prop herself up. "Many call me Bella, but you may call me whatever you want. What is your name, my angel?"

Irina blinked, shaking herself out of a daze––how could anyone blindside her so easily?––and murmured, "I'm Irina." But could this woman really be her mate? If this was true, then what about…

"Irina," Bella purred, and Irina lost her train of thought. The way the brunette caressed Irina's name with her tongue… Bella leaned in closer, licking her lower lip. "Perhaps you and I can get to know each other a little better? Now, preferably." As she said this, her fingers ran up Irina's leg, moving to the inside of her thigh, making the blonde shiver.

"Wait!" Irina gasped, grabbing Bella's wrist before the brunette could go any higher. "I can't...I mean...um, I'm taken, so…"

Isabella's eyes instantly went pitch black, and she let out a furious snarl. "What do you mean, taken?" Who had dared to touch Bella's mate? She'd murder the fool!

Even though Irina instinctively knew the vampire above her would never harm her in any way, the blonde shivered and shrunk into the snow. Without a doubt, Irina knew this was a very, very powerful vampire, and also much older. Maybe even older than all three of the sisters' ages combined.

Bella frowned, letting out a low growl. Great, now she was scaring the girl. But she couldn't just stand by and let Irina continue to belong to another. Cupping the blonde's face in her hands, Bella leaned in so close that their noses nearly brushed. "You do realize he isn't your mate, correct?"

"I...I thought so…" Irina started weakly, and she shivered as another wave of furious power rolled off of the brunette.

"Did he mark you?" Bella demanded through clenched teeth. If whoever this one had...had dared to mark what was hers...he would beg for death long before Bella would give it to him.

"No. It just...it never felt right," Irina admitted in a soft voice. And now, Irina was starting to understand why.

"And now you know why," Bella stated, making Irina jump, startled, as the woman had said just what she had been thinking. Bella sat up so she was now straddling the blonde, and Irina knew that if she had been human, she would have been blushing. It was crazy, especially given how many lovers Irina had had over the years, but this vampire was making her feel like she was a human school girl with her first crush. It didn't help that Isabella was the sexiest thing Irina had ever laid eyes on. "So all you have to do is break up with this shitty ass vampire, then I'll kill him, and everything will work out."

"What? No, you are _not_ killing him!" Irina said, ripping her gaze from the brunette's visible cleavage to glare up into the red eyes as Irina quickly sat up. "I understand that you're upset, but Laurent has been sweet, and is an incredibly good guy."

 _Laurent, hm?_ That was a name that Bella was going to remember and curse for the rest of eternity. Someone who had actually somehow wormed his way into her mate's heart to such a degree that Irina would think that _he_ was actually her mate, definitely had to go. Deciding that trying to convince Irina would be the best course of action, Bella wrapped her arms around Irina's neck and pressed her lips to the blonde's ear.

"So, if you had come across me without anyone by your side, without anyone you loved, and I believed I already had a mate...if I had fucked and loved this person to such a large degree that I didn't want to make love to you, didn't want to kiss you...what would you do?" Bella purred, her voice persuasive and almost hypnotizing. Having made her point, Bella nuzzled Irina behind the ear and waited.

Irina had already stiffened in Bella's embrace at Bella's words, and she felt a coil of fury tighten in her gut as she imagined the possible scene. It made her already cold body so much colder, and she had to stop herself from hissing with her dark emotions. The beast in her roared with such anger that Irina nearly shook from the force of it.

It was the feel of Bella's smile against her skin that stopped her from physically lashing out. The blonde had to take unnecessary yet calming deep breaths to get ahold of herself, and it was only then that she had pulled the brunette tight against her body as if to physically stop her from becoming someone else's. If Irina had any doubts that Isabella was her mate, she couldn't doubt anymore. Yet…

"I understand where you're coming from. But I still don't want Laurent dead for my mistake. As I said, he's a good guy," Irina said in a calm, level voice.

Bella pulled back, and had the brunette not felt so much more powerful than her, Irina would have snarled angrily at Bella moving away from her and pulled her back, as close as possible, never wanting to let go. Instead, Irina loosened her hold to the point where she was only gripping Bella's hips, Bella's arms still draped loosely around Irina's shoulders, as the brunette looked at her.

Irina was most certainly beautiful. With her wavy pale blonde hair that fell in waves to her delicious breasts, her petite height that made her even shorter than Bella, her beautiful face that Bella just wanted to caress and kiss. Even those golden eyes, which Bella knew her sons would taunt Bella for and throw tantrums over, looked beyond beautiful when they were a part of the girl before her. Irina most certainly looked like an angel––Bella's angel. And while Bella wanted nothing more than to tear and ravage and maul this _Laurent_ like a wild animal, her mate's happiness came first. Bella wondered if her willingness to put all of Irina's desires before Bella was ingrained so powerfully in her because of her age and time alone, or if it was just Bella's sappiness leaking out. Either way, Bella had made her decision.

"I see. Then the boy shall live," Bella said, frowning with distaste. She started to wonder how long it would take to provoke the foolish vampire into attacking her so she could kill him, but seeing the relief on her sweet angel's face made her reluctantly dismiss the thought.

"Thank you, Isabella," Irina said, gifting the older vampire with a beautiful smile.

Hoping to get another kind of thanks, Bella leaned in for a kiss, only for Irina to stop her. Bella was about to voice her frustrations, but Irina said, "Not yet. I want to break up with Laurent first, if that's okay with you."

Oh, it was more than okay. While Bella wasn't one for waiting, as she had done way too much of that over her long life, she felt a swell of glee knowing Irina was going to break the poor boy's heart. Turning on the charm, Bella nodded and murmured, "Of course!" Getting to her feet, Bella then held out her hand. Irina took it quickly, and had Bella not known any better, she would have sworn her body warmed at the trust already starting to bloom between them. "Now, my angel, I would love to learn about you. Everything and anything you can tell me." Nothing, no matter how small or random, would Bella ignore or dismiss.

"Okay," Irina said with a shy smile. "And you as well?"

"Yes. But you first," Bella said, as the whole Volturi Queen thing tended to frighten and intimidate anyone. She wanted her mate to get to know her, really know her, before Irina knew the whole truth.

"I'm part of a coven," Irina started. "We live a little ways from here."

"Then you may tell me about yourself as we walk. I would love to meet them." The smile Irina gave her made the brunette want to do a fist pump. Bella was totally racking up points with the blonde, and the more she earned, the better.

Now, she just had to be charming to the rest of the family as well. Bella couldn't be rude, couldn't provoke, had to keep an open mind, pretend everyone was amazing and interesting no matter how boring they actually were...Bella wondered if she was actually capable of it all. In fact, Bella was pretty sure she was going to fuck things up.

It would be fun just her luck to end up in the doghouse within the first day.


	4. Chapter 4

_Author's Note: Told you it would be up by today at the latest. Thankfully for those who like reading this story, I'm always right about these things. So I hope you enjoy enjoy, tell me what you think, etc. Thanks!_

* * *

Chapter 4

If the two had run back, it would have taken only seconds, maybe even a minute to get there. Instead, it took nearly an hour as Bella learned everything she could about Irina and her family.

One of the first things Irina mentioned was her special animal diet, and Bella admitted she already knew about it, although a bit nervously. Thankfully, Irina didn't even bring up switching diets to Bella, something Bella was incredibly relieved about.

Irina talked about her human life first; how she had been a simple peasant girl, living a very interesting life, but how she resembled her sisters Tanya and Kate, so their mother Sasha had turned her as well. She mentioned briefly that Sasha had died, and how they had gone into a grief filled rage that led them to sleeping with both humans and vampires regardless of gender, killing all of them, which was an interesting fact that Bella enjoyed. Sure, it had pissed her off knowing that so many slept with her mate––not that Bella was one to talk––but knowing they all died soon after made everything so much better. She also mentioned how they had eventually met Carlisle, changed diets, and how they had lived life until then.

Then she talked about her family members; how Tanya was the coven leader and the oldest, how Kate was the second oldest and had the ability to shock people, how Carmen and Eleazar had actually left the Volturi Guard and joined them.

Laurent was the most recent member. Apparently, he had been part of a wandering coven of three, and had left when his coven mates were about to do something stupidly crazy and wrong. When Bella questioned what that thing was, Irina made her swear not to tell anyone, and when Bella did, she admitted that her cousins, the Cullens, had taken a human girl named Angela into their home, as one of the vampires, a boy named Edward, had realized she was his mate. Laurent's coven mates wanted to hunt and kill the girl for sport, and that was why Laurent had left––but only after giving the Cullens a warning. The Cullens, in turn, had told Laurent about Denali, and that was how the man had ended up with the Denalis, and therefore, Irina.

Bella listened and absorbed, but also wondered if the girl would still be human when she went for her visit. Something about the story made her wonder if this Edward, or maybe even the whole coven, wanted to change the human. Humans being killed or turned when they learn of vampires was the one rule that Bella herself insisted on. If humans started walking around with the knowledge about vampires, there would be so much chaos. It would make it so much harder to hunt and even just have fun.

Her mind didn't linger on the human long; instead, she quickly focused back on her mate. The more she stared, the more things she noticed about her. It was like opening the best present she could wish for, only to find multiple other presents inside.

What made it even better was that Irina didn't even seem to notice how casually she reached out for contact. Bella had been nervous that touching Irina might upset the vampire again and that she would have to wait until Irina broke up with Laurent. However, Irina had been the one to lace their fingers together. Irina was the one to lean against her, and it was Irina who at one point reached up to brush Bella's hair out of her eyes. And damn, was it hard for Bella to hold herself back when Irina had paused in both voice and touch, fingers caressing Bella's cheek, bodies close, those golden eyes lingering on Bella's lips.

Bella had been nervous at first, when she realized that Irina's reaction to her hadn't been nearly as strong as Bella had reacted to the blonde angel. But after getting teased with so many touches and given so many looks that made Bella all kinds of crazy, she realized the pull was strong despite Irina's weaker reaction. Bella figured that either the animal blood or the belief that she had already found her mate had dulled Irina's reaction. At one point, Bella considered taking off her shirt to see how Irina would react to that, but she didn't want to push it.

The entire time they talked, Bella kept on redirecting the conversation back to Irina. Of course, the vampire would tell Irina things about her when asked, but so many times, she had come too close to talking about her life as part of the Volturi. And while Bella knew she could talk about being part of the Volturi without mentioning the whole Volturi Queen part, she also knew that vampires reacted badly whenever the Volturi were mentioned; her dumbass sons had really fucked that up.

Thankfully, Irina seemed to be pretty damn happy every time Bella told her something about herself, so Bella didn't feel too guilty about it all. Bella did, however, feel pretty grumpy when their happy fantasy bubble had to be popped.

They were now in front of Irina's house. The door flung open, revealing a dark skinned male vampire with dreadlocks and a large grin.

"Irina, my love, I've been waiting for you to return to us!" the man, who could only be Laurent, said with a large grin as he rushed forward to sweep Irina into his arms. He didn't make it very far, however, before Bella planted her foot in his chest and promptly kicked him right through the doorframe, breaking off quite a large bit of it.

"Bella!" Irina exclaimed, whirling on Bella with irritation clear on her face.

Bella shrugged. "Sorry, I couldn't help myself." She wasn't really sorry for kicking the guy; she was only sorry that Irina got mad at her for it.

"What's going on?" a female's voice demanded from inside the house, interrupting whatever Irina was about to say next.

"An attacker?" another female asked, voice holding a hint of glee in it as Bella heard two female rush through the door.

"Wait, don't attack, I think I know that voice!" a voice, who Bella knew belonged to Eleazar, shouted after them.

Ah, crap. Bella really sucked with making good impressions.

The brunette stepped away from the house, leaning backward as the first vampire lunged. Instead of colliding, the blonde flew over, landing in a crouch. The second one blonde looked ready to attack herself, as did Laurent, but Irina quickly stepped between Bella and the vampires that were still in the house, holding up her hands defensively.

"Everyone, wait! She's not a threat, she's my mate!" Irina shouted desperately.

Bella felt a shot of pleasure through her old body at her angel's words. However, as her eyes were focused solely on Laurent, she noticed how the man's eyes darkened quickly with fury before his face became an expressionless mask.

"Wait, what?" the blonde behind Bella asked in stunned surprise. "But what about––"

"I know, I know. I promise I'll explain everything," Irina said, her body filled with tension. Bella didn't even think before reaching forward, capturing Irina's hand in her own and rubbing the back of her angel's hand with her thumb. She was still behind Irina, and the blonde never once looked her way, as she was still focused on calming everyone down, but Irina's body relaxed visibly. Bella could actually feel the tension and stress leave her mate, and that was a great relief to the older vampire.

Just then, a tan skinned man stepped into the doorway, freezing in place as he caught sight of the brunette vampire. Had he been human, he most certainly would have paled. "Isabella," he said tightly, lowering his eyes so his eye contact wouldn't be mistaken as any kind of challenge.

"Sup, Eleazar?" Bella replied casually, and felt the grip on her hand tighten. Bella wanted to groan with frustration as she realized how she had already fucked things up with Irina.

Make a positive impression? How could Bella have believed, even for a moment, that she was actually capable of that? Right now, if Bella didn't do damage control, she was going to fuck everything up.

 _Wish me luck, me,_ Bella thought to herself as Irina dropped her hand.

"Jane, I know you're angry, but you really shouldn't be taking it out on them. It was our mistake," Alec said from where he was perched on a nearby tree stump, eyes leisurely moving from his furious sister to the bronze haired boy, then the very tense coven watching and begging for Jane to stop.

"I don't know what we might have done, but please, I beg of you; release my son!" Carlisle Cullen pleaded. Jane didn't even twitch, her furious gaze riveted on Edward, who was still writhing around in incredible agony.

"Jane; it was our mistake," Alec repeated. "We went to the wrong coven." Although Edward didn't exactly help the situation with his sarcastic words. "Let him go."

Finally, Edward was released. He fell limply to the ground and simply laid there, unmoving, as he tried to recover. Jane, however, was all but shaking with fury.

"How could we have been wrong? We know she would have wanted to get the most boring coven over with first!" Jane snarled, turning to her brother.

"Hey!" the large male, Emmett, protested, nearly gaining Jane's unwanted attention.

However, Alec came to the rescue. "Jane, the other coven is not that far from here," he said in a soft whisper. "It's not like she would just shirk her duties and go running off somewhere." Jane gave him an incredulous look, and even Alec had to admit to himself that Bella could do just that, and that she had done it before. "She specifically said she was going to the killjoy covens next. Why would she lie about that?"

Jane let out an annoyed sigh and scowled. "I suppose you're right."

"Then shall we get going? The sooner we're gone, the sooner we find her," Alec said, and Jane nodded in agreement.

"Oh no," Alice gasped, catching the twins' attention just as she came out of a vision.

"No! No, that will not happen!" Edward roared as he read Alice's thoughts. All of a sudden he was on his feet, lunging at the twins as if he was about to rip their heads from their bodies.

"Edward don't!" Carlisle cried, but the boy was already on the ground, writhing in agony once more.

"Now, now, what's this about?" Alec asked darkly as he strode towards the boy who Jane still had her sights on. "We were just about to leave, I had even managed to pardon your earlier behavior. Yet you go and do this? Attacking the Volturi while they are on the job..."

"Please forgive him, he was just being protective," Alice tried to interject.

"And why would he be protective?" Alec questioned as he summoned his own gift. It started to creep towards them, and while it was slow and visible, it quickly cut off all escape routes for the vampires, who stiffened when they noticed it.

After all, when a vampire is stupid enough to attack the Volturi, there is only one reason; they have broken at least one law.

"Answer my brother, or your coven mate dies," Jane added, looking up only long enough to give them a terrifyingly sweet smile before once again focusing on Edward to resume his torture.

"He read my mind after I had a vision," Alice admitted, and the twins could tell she was unwilling to continue, but she did. Smart girl. "The vision involved his mate, that's why he was so upset."

"And who is his mate?" Alec asked. By now, the rest of the vampires had huddled together in a small circle, completely surrounded by Alec's gift. Alec stopped it just before it touched the first vampire, giving the pixie time to answer without any additional stress.

"Well, his mate is a girl named Angela, and she––"

Just then, the twins heard the sound of a loud engine coming towards them. The engine cut off, and everyone save for the twins froze as someone got out of the truck. They were a few hundred feet from the Cullens' house, but one thing was still inevitably clear; the person from the truck had a heartbeat.

"Edward?" a human voice called. "Carlisle? Esme? Is anyone here?"

Now Alec understood why the boy was so frantic to attack. Ironically enough, it was the boy's attempted attack that had led to Alec and his sister finding out about the Cullens' little secret.

"A human?" Alec questioned out loud as he regarded the vampires. They were trying to stay calm, but it was clear that they were freaking out. "And she knows the truth, doesn't she?" It was more than a statement of fact then a question, but even then, he found his answer on every one of his faces.

"You will not...hurt her…" Edward growled, somehow managing to speak despite the pain he was in.

"You have no choice in the matter," Jane snarled. "Her fate is now up to the Volturi."

"Wait! Don't kill her! Edward plans on turning her! Soon!" Alice exclaimed desperately. She took a step forward, only to be jerked back by Jasper, who saved her from stepping right into Alec's gift. "We're just waiting for her to graduate high school."

"Hm," Alec murmured, putting a calming hand on his sister's shoulder. "Well, then we'll have to see what Aro thinks about all of this."

Jane growled with frustration; she just wanted to kill the girl and the coven then be done with it all so she could get to Bella. And while Alec appeared calm and reasonable, he felt the same way. However, these were some of Aro's favorite vampires, and their master would be quite angry if they did anything without consulting him first.

It seemed they would be stuck with the Cullens for a little bit longer.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"How do you know Eleazar, Bella? And why didn't you mention this little fact while I was talking about him earlier?" Irina asked, eyes darkening with anger as she glared down her taller mate. Behind the blonde, Bella caught a flash of glee in Laurent's eyes.

The french fucker was going to get it. Right now, the only thing that stopped her from murdering the fool was Irina, but if Irina were to throw Bella out and go back to Laurent, even if it was just to spite the brunette, the man wouldn't live another day.

Focusing completely on her blonde angel, Bella wondered how much she should reveal. Would it only make Irina angrier if she learned the truth? "I met Eleazar when he was a part of the Volturi," Bella said, wording her answer carefully.

Irina clearly wouldn't stand for Bella's bullshit. "And how did that happen? Why would you have been involved with the Volturi for even a moment?" Irina demanded, eyebrows arched as she stared Bella down.

"Cause...I'm a part of the Volturi," Bella admitted, glancing up at Eleazar, who was wise enough to keep his mouth shut. However, Bella doubted that he would have done so if Bella had said she used to be. Damn it, why did things have to be so complicated? Why couldn't Bella just kill the bitchy frenchman, threaten Eleazar and Carmen not to say a word until Bella was ready, and sweep Irina off her feet? That was all Bella needed for a happily ever after ending, right there.

Irina stiffened for a moment, as did her sisters. Then, Irina seemed to get even angrier. "And you didn't think to tell me this in the time that we've talked?"

Bella kicked at the ground like a sulky child. "Y'know, to be fair, we only talked for, like, an hour."

"And in that hour you didn't think it was important to tell me that you were a member of the most dangerous coven on the planet?" Irina hissed, making Bella wince.

Okay, now Bella knew telling Irina she was the Volturi Queen wasn't a good idea. It looked like Irina was ready to strangle her, and Bella knew the only way to kill a vampire that way was to squeeze so hard their head popped right off of their neck.

"Uh, well...vamps get kinda scared when they learn that and most don't want to get to know me, so I just…"

"Fine. Let's say I didn't find out just now, and we got to know each other better. When do you think would have been a good time to tell me?"

Bella didn't even pause to think about how her answer would be received. "In all honesty, I did not think that far ahead," she admitted.

Irina let out a low hiss, her eyes now pitch black as she glared at her supposed mate. Would whatever fate controlled mating really do this to her? Would really, instead of giving her someone sweet like Laurent, give her some impulsive Volturi dog? Someone who had probably been turned and trained to be a mindless killer? Someone who might have even been a part of the group of vampires who were sent to kill her mother Sasha? Yes, Irina hadn't seen Bella among the vampires, but that didn't mean she wasn't there.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and looked up into Eleazar's sad eyes. "You need to calm down. Think this through, Irina."

Irina turned back to Bella, who looked incredibly freaked out, and who clearly didn't like that Irina was upset. Right. Eleazar was a part of the guard, and now Eleazar and Carmen were almost as close to her as her sisters were. He left the Volturi so he could live happily with his mate. And Bella was her mate, right?

Taking a deep breath, Irina stared down at Bella. "I don't like liars, Bella. But you are my mate, so...do you think...would it be possible for you to leave the Volturi? I just can't...the Volturi holds too many bad memories for me, and I wouldn't be able to look at you without seeing them." Irina knew she was being selfish, she did. In fact, some could say she was being unreasonable. But losing Sasha had been the worst thing that ever happened to her, and she couldn't imagine having a mate who would constantly leave her to go do the Volturi's bidding.

"Irina!" Laurent exclaimed in shock, amazed that Irina would even consider the woman, supposed mate or no.

Bella stared at Irina with dismay as her dead heart dropped. While she was the Queen, it was particularly because of that that she couldn't leave. Who was going to keep her idiot sons in line? And that was if her sons wouldn't come after her to stop her from doing something "crazy" like activating another volcano. "I can't," Bella said, and watched the hope die from her mate's eyes.

"Then I don't think I can do this," Irina said sadly, hugging herself as she was overwhelmed by pain. It was amazing that a woman she only met an hour ago could cause her this much pain; it was almost as bad as when she had watched Sasha burned.

"No, wait, I can do it! I'll just stay here; I don't actually have to tell them!" Bella said, brightening with realization. Every other vampire looked at Bella like she was crazy, Eleazar especially so, but Bella didn't notice. "I mean, I'm on vacation anyways for who knows how long. Not like they'll actually check up on me anytime soon, right?" Bella bounced up and down in excitement, looking so proud that Irina couldn't help but smile, although she was beyond incredulous.

"Bella, the punishment you can get for that––" Irina started, but Eleazar interrupted with a sigh.

"Is nothing. She won't be punished for this, Irina, I assure you," Eleazar said, shaking his head at the Volturi Queen's plan. While the queen had always seemed eccentric back in his time with the Volturi, it seemed that she was even more so now; or perhaps she was just willing to move heaven and earth for her mate. That, Eleazar can understand.

"What aren't you telling me, old friend?" Tanya asked in a soft voice, too soft for even Irina, as close as she was, to hear.

"I can't, Tanya. It's an ancient Volturi secret," Eleazar replied sadly. "The punishment for telling…"

"I see," Tanya said with an understanding nod as she focused back on Bella, who currently had a grip on Irina's waist and was spinning the girl around in circles. Irina found herself laughing at Bella's excitement, and while Kate hated the Volturi just as much as Irina, she couldn't help but think about what good friends she and Bella could become if the vampire was like this all the time.

Bella put Irina on the ground and approached Eleazar, still grinning. Just by her posture and excitement, Eleazar could tell what was coming. Had he been human, he would have turned ghostly pale. Instead, he just looked like he was deathly ill as he stared at Bella, preparing himself for the oncoming onslaught.

"Eleazar! How's one of my favorite boys doing, huh?" Bella greeted the man cheerfully with a powerful slap on the back that cracked Eleazar's skin and sent the man stumbling forward. With no regards to personal space, she then grabbed the larger man around the neck, pulling his upper body down so she could ruffle his hair. "It's been so long, too. How's your old woman doing? Still as hot as I remember?"

"I'd like to think so," Carmen said from where she was standing inside the house as she watched Bella unintentionally beat up her husband with clear amusement.

"Carmen!" Bella said cheerfully, letting Eleazar go to approach her with open arms. She stopped less than a foot away, looking back towards Irina, then to Carmen again. "Crap. I don't know how I'm supposed to greet you now."

Carmen let out a light laugh. "Yes, I do believe your flirting days are over now. No more trying to get every girl who catches your eye into your bed."

Irina heard Carmen's words and scowled. "Oh, they're over alright. That is, unless you want to be kicked out of the house piece by piece."

"Damn," Bella said, looking at Irina in surprise. Who would have guessed her mate could get even hotter when she was angry?

"Well? Have anything to say?" Irina said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Holy shit," Kate said with a laugh. "You're gonna chain a girl down before you even have sex with her? Talk about a trip back to the olden days."

Bella nodded with agreement, a silly grin on her face. It felt good to be chained down, especially knowing Irina was her happily ever after. "Consider me whipped, chained, and collared."

Kate burst out into more laughter, but Irina felt warm emotion well up in her heart as she stared at the woman who looked at her with such honest adoration. Irina knew, without a doubt, that this woman was her forever. While Irina certainly never thought her mate could be such a crazy and charismatic woman, she was already unable to see her mate as anyone but Isabella, Volturi connections or not.

"Wait a moment! You can't just come in here, take Irina, and become part of this coven!" Laurent spat, anger darkening in his eyes as he stepped into Bella's personal space. Bella didn't step back, instead standing her ground. Her red eyes bore into the frenchman's making him shiver and feel a need to cower even in his fury. Just how old and powerful was the vampire before him?

"Laurent…" Irina started, upset she had managed to hurt Laurent this badly. Sure, she hadn't planned for this to happen, and she had honestly believed that Laurent was her mate, but that didn't make the guilt any easier. "I'm sorry, but––"

"He's right," Tanya said, surprising everyone.

"Tanya, what are you talking about?" Irina asked, stunned.

"Yeah! I mean, damn, Tanya, you're not going to let Irina's true mate into the Coven? Isn't that a little fucked up?" Kate piped up, a little confused by her sister's behavior.

"Of course not. I will give her a fair chance to become a part of this coven. However, there's a process that must be taken, and Bella must show her worth." It wasn't Tanya the sister, but Tanya the coven leader that turned to stare down Bella. "You are part of the Volturi, and therefore, we can't fully accept you into our coven without making it seem like an act of stealing; this is something the Volturi will not tolerate, and I will not put my family in danger."

"Don't worry, I would never let them hurt any of you," Bella said seriously, pissed at just the thought of one of her stupid ass sons trying to so much as touch any member of the coven. Well, actually, they could touch and rip and shred and break and burn Laurent as much as they wanted. It was just the others Bella wanted to keep safe.

"I'm glad you feel that way. But I also have to add, our coven has a very strong reason for our hatred of the Volturi, and we believe the Volturi can't be trusted. For now, this includes you as well. You will have to each and every member's trust, and it will not be easy."

Damn. Just what did her stupid sons do to these girls? She was going to have to break them apart for whatever it was when she stopped by for a visit. "Got it," Bella said with a nod, trying not to scowl at the happy gleam in Laurent's eyes. _Don't worry, you little french fucker. I'll make it so your trust and acceptance isn't necessary,_ Bella promised, giving Laurent a grin that was more a baring of teeth.

"Damn, you've got a catfight ready to happen over you any second now, you lucky dog," Kate said, nudging Irina in the ribs.

"Kate, stop it," Irina hissed lowly, upset with the clear animosity between the two vampires.

"Just saying. Although personally, Laurent is more of a girly little bitch while Bella is actually tough, so catfight might not actually be the right term." Kate eyed Bella up and down with a grin. "You definitely upgraded, sis. Good job."

"Shut up," Irina hissed with embarrassment, so focused on Kate she didn't notice Bella's cocky smirk.

 _Upgraded, huh? I'll show Irina just how much when I get her into my bed,_ Bella thought gleefully, excited at the thought of showing off just how good she was to her mate.

"One last thing," Tanya said, drawing Bella's attention back to the blonde coven leader. "Our coven drinks animal blood. I believe we should start you on the diet as soon as possible."

Tanya smiled, knowing just how hard animal drinking would be, and how it would really prove how much Bella cared for Irina.

Bella, on the other hand, felt as close to sick as a vampire could get.

She was fucked.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Another chapter up, and sorry that there's no Alec and Jane in this one. There will be the twins in the next chapter though, don't worry! Thanks for reading, and sorry for not updating anything in a while. I have reasons, reasons I don't feel like explaining again. Please tell me what you think, and I'll just tell you now, things will not go as planned for Bella and the Denali coven so don't worry-or worry, whatever you feel like doing._


	6. Chapter 6

_Author's Note: Okay, so many of you thought that Bella was going to become an animal drinker. I just wanted to tell you all, that was never the plan. You'll see if you keep reading. Plus, I'm sorry for the short chapter, but I'm really tired and thought I should get this out sooner rather than later. Cool? Cool._

* * *

Chapter 6

"Tanya, what do we do? What's wrong with her?" Irina panicked as Bella threw up even more of the recently ingested blood.

"It's fine, Irina, just calm down. Her system apparently can't handle animal blood. Once she gets rid of it all, she'll calm down," Tanya said as she watched the woman spit out even more. Bella must have been much older than Tanya had thought. Now the coven leader was actually feeling a little bit guilty, as she had only said that Bella had to drink animal blood to test the vampire. She just wanted to see how far Bella would go for Irina's sake.

Apparently, that was very, very far. Even Laurent had balked at the idea of drinking animal blood in the beginning, since he was only staying to court Irina, and everyone knew Laurent still drank from the occasional human whenever he could. But Bella, for some strange reason, decided to drink animal blood just to prove herself. Tanya could tell from the look on Bella's face that the older vampire knew it wasn't going to end well, but she still went through with it.

This basically made Bella okay in Tanya's books.

"Damn, this is so metal," Kate muttered, getting a dirty look from both of her sisters.

"We need to get her a human. Or two humans. Maybe ten," Eleazar said, almost as freaked out over Bella as Irina was.

Only Laurent seemed happy about the certain turn of events, incredibly so. It even made Tanya want to smack him for it.

Just as the last heave shook Bella's body, Bella sat up and wiped her mouth. Ugh, the things she did for love. She looked up at Tanya, trying not to melt into Irina's touch as her angel worriedly held her from behind, and said, "Tell me I don't have to do that again."

"You don't," Tanya agreed. "Honestly, I really didn't expect you to get this far; I thought you would have given up by the time you killed the animal."

"Really? Damn it," Bella muttered. It figured that this would all be a test; a damn good one, but still. Bella definitely should have earned some serious brownie points for this. "I'm never doing that again. Sorry babe, but animal drinking isn't really my style." It really, really wasn't. The "whole body rejecting animal blood" thing aside, she still felt like hunting animals was the boring and disgusting way out. If this whole thing hadn't been a test, Bella would have put all of her energy into convincing them that human blood was it for her. Not that they apparently would have needed much convincing, after the whole vomiting display.

"I can tell," Irina said with a soft laugh, kissing Bella's temple. Unknowingly to her, this set Laurent's teeth on edge. In fact, nobody noticed save for Carmen, the others too focused on the vampire who had just upchucked a large buck's worth of blood.

Thankfully, Carmen thought it would be better to keep an eye on Laurent, who had been slowly proving to be a different man than he had led them all to believe. And while it could just be heartbreak driving him, Carmen believed there was more to it.

"So I guess with this, you're now an honorary member of this coven," Tanya said as she stared at Bella. It felt weird, bringing an active Volturi member into her family, but at the same time, it didn't scare her as much as it should have. There was something about the brunette that made Tanya feel like she couldn't have a loyaler, or more protective vampire as Irina's mate.

Of course, it was probably Bella's loyal and protective nature that made the Volturi recruit her in the first place.

Before Tanya could get too lost in her thoughts, Bella stood and spat in distaste. "I won't ask you to watch me hunt, angel. But I need blood."

Irina sighed, but it was a sappy sigh over being called angel, and not a sigh about Bella's apparently necessary diet. She stared into Bella's black eyes, already amazed at how far Bella would go for her. "I know. But come back soon, okay? I want to give you a tour of the house. We should probably talk some more too."

"And make out too, right?" Bella asked excitedly. A sexy smirk slipped onto her lips a moment later, and she added, "I mean, you are the owner of my heart. Not to mention I _did_ just risk everything for you by drinking from an animal."

Irina laughed lightly, then leaned in to whisper in Bella's ear, "Trust me, Bella. We're going to do a lot more than make out when I get you alone tonight." There was no way she would be able to stop herself, either; not that she wanted to. Bella was beyond charismatic, beyond sexy, beyond desirable––Irina didn't think it was just the mating bond that made her feel drawn to Bella either. She had caught the way Kate, as subtle as she is, ogling Bella on every possible occasion, especially during the hunt. Was it Bella's age that could so easily draw someone in, or was it just Bella herself?

Irina wouldn't have cared, but her instincts felt the need to remind her about how Bella had apparently been with countless other women, and that she needed to make it clear that Bella was hers in every sense of the word. Of course, Irina wouldn't have been able to hold off much longer anyways, as the only reason she hadn't jumped Bella already was out of guilty feelings towards Laurent. She still felt she should break up with Laurent properly before fucking her mate's brains out––something she just realized she still hadn't officially done.

Bella wouldn't be able to wipe the silly grin off her face if she tried. So she just nodded like an idiot and said, "I would like that. Very, very much." Then her smile turned cocky. "I can't wait to get my hands on you."

"Then you better finish your hunt up quickly," Irina flirted, her fingers playing with the hem of Bella's shirt.

The older vampire was about a second away from saying "screw the hunt" but realized that she wanted their first time to last. And last Bella would not if she was weak from blood loss and hunger. Letting out a low, frustrated growl, Bella said, "I'll be back as soon as I can," and took off.

"You can't hunt too close to us!" Irina shouted after her. Bella waved at her over her shoulder instead of verbally answering––that would take more time, after all, and Bella wanted to get back as soon as possible.

Once Bella was gone, there was an awkward silence, broken only by Kate's attempt to make a joke. An aborted joke, as Tanya elbowed Kate hard in the gut the second Kate opened her mouth to speak.

Then Irina turned to Laurent, ready to have that talk and officially break things up with the man. However, the moment she met his eyes, they hardened. "Laurent…" Irina started, but Laurent apparently wasn't ready to hear it.

"I'm going to go hunt," he said with a low growl.

"I can come with––" Irina tried to suggest, but stopped when Laurent snarled at her.

"Alone," Laurent snapped, and then he was gone.

"Don't worry, Irina," Kate said, throwing her arm over her sister's shoulders. "He definitely got the message. You are officially baggage free, and ready to get it on with your sexy lady lover."

"Thanks," Irina muttered dryly, but couldn't help but realize that it was true. Yes, the breakup didn't go like she planned, but there could be no doubt in Laurent's mind that Irina already belonged to Bella.

Right?

This entire situation was beyond infuriating. Jane was ready and nearly desperate to just kill the lot of them. Instead, they had to sit with the Cullens and their pet human, in their house, as they waited for Aro to call back after the kings finished their discussion. They sat in silence of course, as anyone who dared to speak would get a taste of Jane's gift save for Alec, who kept quiet simply because he could tell how close his sister was to snapping.

Of course, Alec wasn't doing much better. He wanted to get to Bella as soon as possible, before Bella moved on. That is, if she hadn't moved on already. Alec doubted Bella would stay at either "killjoy coven" for more than a few days. Although, since the Cullens were still on the list, maybe she would just come to them?

No. Alec couldn't risk believing that. Knowing Bella, she would dig into the very deepest, darkest parts of the earth in hopes of finding a new coven, simply so she wouldn't have to deal with the two animal drinking covens in a row. Also knowing Bella, she would get into a lot of trouble while doing it.

They needed to be on the move; preferably hours ago rather than in the hopefully not too distant future.

Just as Alec was thinking this, Jane's phone rang, and the blonde eagerly answered. "Yes, master?" Jane asked with a little too much excitement in her voice, making all of the golden eyed vampires tense. "What is the verdict? Can we kill them all?"

"Oh, Jane, always the bloodthirsty one," Aro chuckled. "But I'm afraid not; you will make another visit in two years time, after graduation. Only if the human isn't turned by then can you kill them all. Tell Carlisle that it is a...gift, for all the time we have spent together."

Alec looked to Carlisle, who nodded grimly, letting Alec know he had heard.

"Besides," they heard Caius's voice add. "You have other, more important things to worry about. Correct?"

"Of course, Masters," Jane said, barely in control of her fury at being denied the kills. But when Alec put a hand on her shoulder, she started to calm, realizing that what Caius was saying was correct. Bella came first. Even if they had been allowed to kill them, it would have only taken more time, more energy, and taken them farther away from Bella.

"The verdict has been passed," Alec said as Aro hung up the phone. He turned to the Cullens and added, "Consider yourselves lucky. But do not test the Volturi; when we return in two years' time, we expect your human to be turned.

The twins' eyes landed on the human, and the bronze haired vampire shielding her. They could already tell just by seeing the look in Edward's eyes that they might get to kill him after all. He clearly had no intention of turning her, but he still nodded in agreement. Anything to help his family live another day, right?

The twins smirked to each other, nodded, and then left without muttering a goodbye. They ran on without a thought, eager to get to the Denalis before Bella left.

Back at the Cullen house, things were slowly, shakily getting back to normal. Carlisle, however, decided it necessary to make an important phone call. After all, the Witch Twins were two of the Volturi that both covens his own coven and theirs hated the most.

"Hello, Tanya? I wanted to warn you, Alec and Jane are heading right for your coven…"


	7. Chapter 7

_Author's Note: Hey guys, thanks for the wait! Hope you all enjoy it, and as always, please tell me what you think. Oh, and I'd like to apologize in advance for doing something a little bit mean. If you don't know what it is by the time you finish this chapter, then that's good for me._

* * *

Chapter 7

Feeding was quick and painless––for Bella, anyways––and it wasn't long before she was rushing back to Irina. Irina, her mate. Irina, who was totally starting to accept her despite her misgivings about the whole Volturi thingy.

Just the thought of her blonde angel brought a smile to Bella's face and made her run faster. She was definitely going to woo the Denali coven, but she was going to go all out for Irina and show her just how amazing of a mate Irina had gotten.

Her grin widened, turning a bit goofy, as she imagined all of things she would get to do to Irina once they were alone and Irina had been properly seduced. Just the thought got Bella all hot and bothered, so just thinking about what the actual sex would do...

As she approached the Denali house, she quickly realized that her plans might need to take a detour when a stoic yet clearly angry Tanya met her in the clearing in front of the house. Arms crossed, body tense, and Irina nowhere in sight. Immediately, Bella's shoulders slumped, and a "Fuck" slipped from her lips.

"Fuck indeed," Tanya said, baring her teeth at the ancient. "You told us that the Volturi wouldn't notice you were missing."

At that, Bella got a little confused. "Yeah, I did. They shouldn't be missing me yet, especially not this soon. Why would they?" Unless Bella had fucked something up more than she thought before she had come to Denali, there really shouldn't be a reason for them to come after her.

"Well, then might you explain why the Witch Twins are on their way here, and should be here within a few hours at most?" Tanya hissed, her fury brought to the surface by her need to protect her coven.

"The Witch Twins? Alec and Jane?" Bella asked, brightening at the thought that they had actually come after her. Maybe they had even defected, and Bella could have the two adorable munchkins all to herself! Bella's excited smile dimmed, however, when she realized Tanya didn't look happy with the news. "I like the Witch Twins. They're fun," Bella said, a little apologetically as the woman before her was her mate's sister.

"The Witch Twins helped kill our mother! And now they're coming here…" Tanya trailed off, all but shaking with anger and grief. "If it wouldn't make the entire Volturi come after us, I would do everything it took to burn them where they stand!"

As Tanya spoke, Bella felt her heart sink. Damn it all to fuck, things were a lot worse than Bella had thought. Not only did the coven have a huge reason to hate the Volturi, but now two objects of their hatred were coming here because of her.

Aw, come on, she had just met her mate. Why couldn't things just go smoothly for more than a second?

"Maybe I could get them to leave?" Bella suggested half heartedly. She really loved the twins and would do anything to keep them, but this was her mate and her mate's coven she was thinking about here. One day they might at least come to terms with what happened, but Bella knew that it wasn't going to happen soon.

"Sure," Tanya said, but Bella could tell the coven leader didn't believe it was possible for Bella to do so. In fact, a part of Tanya might have even hoped that Bella would get harmed by the twins, simply because it was Bella who brought the twins on them in the first place.

"Right. Then I'll go do that," Bella said, heading in the direction she assumed the twins would be coming from. She was going to put some distance between the house and the meeting point, of course, and she expected the twins to catch her scent before arriving at the house. It's not like they were some stupid newbie vamps or anything.

"You will do so where I can see and hear you," Tanya stated, and Bella almost went all Queenie on her at the order. But she reminded herself that this was her mate's sister and the coven leader, that they were just nervous, and...yeah. Bella still wanted to go all levels of Queenie on her. She couldn't help it, after so many years getting her way and all, and showing other vampires, quite violently, just what would happen if someone tried to actually _order_ or _control_ her-well, Bella had instincts and urges she couldn't just toss out the window.

"Got it," Bella said, glancing towards the house. It hit her harder than she liked when her eyes met a very worried and scared looking Irina in one of the windows, and then she felt a murderous rage start to boil when Laurent put a comforting arm around _her_ angel and smirked in Bella's direction. In a soft voice, Bella muttered, "Bitch, I won't even need my final form to rip off your fucking head. Hell, I don't even need my arms and legs-"

"Excuse me?" Tanya asked, rather sharply.

Bella didn't even bother trying to pretend to be repentant. She simply gestured towards Laurent, never taking her eyes off of the man, and said, "Bitch boy here doesn't seem to know to keep his hands to himself. I know you're pissed at me and all, but can't you just chain him to a wall or some shit?"

Tanya stared in the direction of Laurent, only a few seconds before Irina had shrugged off Laurent's arm. Tanya and Bella weren't close enough to the house for them to be overheard, which only made Bella prouder that Irina had shrugged off the booger without actually hearing what they were talking about. _That's my girl._ Still, Laurent was standing as closely and possessively as possible, and it was clear the coven leader could see that. Bella could too, obviously, and it was quite hard for her to not go over there, punch a hole through the window, grab Laurent by his all too spiffy collar, and drag him right through the glass and out of the house so she could then work on her skill of embedding people's heads, and maybe their entire bodies, into the ground. She had seen someone do that in a manga once, and she was all too happy to try and perfect the skill on Irina's ex-lover.

"I will have a talk with him," was all Tanya said, but Bella knew that would have to be enough. The vampire queen nodded and sighed, turning reluctantly away from Irina. She had zeroed in on a nice boulder nearby that she figured was as good a place as any to wait, and was going to do it quick, but definitely sexy-her mate was still watching after all-jump and flip maneuver onto it, but Tanya's voice stopped her. "Wait."

Bella paused, then turned towards the blonde, not wanting to show the coven leader any disrespect. Then she waited, quite patiently, she might add, for Tanya to finish examining her and say whatever she needed to say.

It took what felt like forever for Tanya to meet her eyes in a serious, and no longer searching way. "Before you try to talk to them," because clearly Bella wasn't going to actually get through to them, at least in Tanya's mind, "Is there anything you would like to tell me?"

Bella cocked her head in thought, wondering what the blonde could possibly be getting at. Then she gave up with a shrug and said, "Nope, not really."

Apparently Bella's answer wasn't enough for Tanya, because the woman seemed to only grow more insistent. "Well, is there anything you would like to say to me? Something perhaps involving this situation, the Volturi, and even Irina?"

Once again, Bella thought, only to realize what she needed to say with a huge grin. "You've got seriously hot sister. And I'm talking the hottest woman I've ever seen here."

Tanya stared for a second, and then her lips quirked up in a half smirk. "I'll be sure to inform Kate of your appreciation. Now, if you'll excuse me, I will be returning to the house. I really do not wish to have any contact with _them_ if I don't have to."

Bella blinked, stunned at Tanya's words. "You better be joking!" she shouted after the coven leader.

"Not at all. I really do not wish to have any contact with the Witch Twins," Tanya threw over her shoulder as she continued to walk towards the house at a human's pace.

"That's not what I'm talking about and you know it!" Bella shot back, knowing better than to follow her when Alec and Jane could be here at any moment. "I was never talking about Kate!"

"Really? I couldn't quite tell," Tanya said with a laugh. "Well, I guess I'll just tell Irina what I heard and we'll see how she feels about that."

"Evil. You are one evil, evil vampire," Bella said with a shake of her head. "Evil worthy of me, even." That generated more laughter from the coven leader, who grew further amused when Bella clearly pouted and started towards the rock. While Bella could be stupid at times, she wasn't stupid enough to even accidentally mess up her meeting with Alec and Jane. "You better at least make it clear to her that you're joking."

"Let's see how this plays out first," Tanya said, and then she was through the door and in her house. The window opened a moment later, probably to have a clear visual sign that Tanya and the rest of the coven would be listening.

"Damn, I really can't catch a break." She almost muttered about how much Tanya and Jane would get along, but she obviously didn't want to open another can of worms for the coven. So instead, she kept her mouth shut, hopped up onto the rock, and waited for the twins.

It felt like an eternity to Bella, an eternity that was almost torturous, as Bella could feel Irina's stare on her. The feeling never left, and Bella had to constantly resist the urge to simply go to the blonde. Yet she didn't even turn around, afraid of what she might find.

All she could hope was that Tanya was at least making sure Laurent kept his hands off of Bella's mate. If not, she really couldn't be held accountable for her actions.

Would Irina forgive her for killing him if she pled momentary insanity?

* * *

Like Bella, Alec and Jane had felt like their run towards Alaska took a thousand times longer than the actual trip. They were just filled with so much anger and annoyance-although that was directed at the Cullens-as well as anxiety. Anxiety that they would miss Bella somehow, and then have to torture the information out of the Denalis as to where she might have gone next.

They really needed to find Bella soon. Not knowing where she was and what she was doing was all but killing them. At one point, Jane had went on a five minute rant about Bella being stuck in the past and the stupidity that Bella refused to have a cellphone. Not that Bella was stupid, Jane would never say such a thing. The situation, however, was very stupid indeed. The stupidest.

Five minutes might not seem like a very long time, but when you're a vampire and able to talk so inhumanly fast, anyone would be surprised how much could be said in a single minute, let alone five.

While it wasn't too long for a vampire, it still took a good chunk of time until they were close enough to catch the scent of one of the Denali coven. And then, miracle of all miracles, they caught Bella's scent as well-running _away_ from the Denalis and their home.

"Fuck!" Jane hissed, and although her brother never said a word, his lips thinned with Alec's suppressed emotion. Thankfully, Bella's tracks weren't too old, so they didn't feel too hopeless as they quickly focused on their new lead.

Pouring on the speed, they took off in the direction that they believed would lead them to Bella.

If only they had found Bella's returning tracks sooner, or even thought to check the house first. Maybe then they wouldn't have had to deal with such an...excitable queen when they finally reached their true destination.


	8. Chapter 8

_Author's Note: Well, if you read my other story Taken By The Amazon, you would have read me saying that I've been struggling to update a few of my other stories, including this one. However, finishing the chapter for that story for some reason gave me the ability to write this one, so I guess I just proved myself wrong. Thanks for your patience everybody._

* * *

Chapter 8

Alec and Jane soon set their eyes on Bella, their queen clearly waiting for something as she sat on a rock with her arms crossed, an irritated expression on her face. Immediately, of course their minds went to the Denalis, and they quickly thought that the animal drinking vampires had done something to agitate her.

But if that was true, then why was Bella still here? Why hadn't she moved on? The only reason either Jane or Alec could think of was that Bella didn't leave because she knew that Alec and Jane were coming, but how? While their queen had quite a few gifts, precog and the like was not among them. And they doubted that Bella actually spent time conversing with the Denalis any more than necessary.

"Alec, Jane," Bella greeted the two when her eyes landed on the twins, warmth creeping into her voice despite her bad mood. Of course, she quickly frowned, glaring at them to let them know that she wasn't pleased. "Where have you two been? I've been waiting for you to show up for an eternity."

"Our apologies," Alec said as the twins came to a stop in front of Bella. He offered her his trademark childishly charming grin. "We were following your scent trail, and it led us quite a ways from here. It took us awhile to realize that you were still in the Denali's territory, and by the time we did, we were quite a ways away and it took time for us to come back."

Bella scowled, realizing it was her own hunting trip that had delayed them. "It's still your fault," she declared, not wanting to admit to anything.

"Perhaps if you would just get a cellphone…" Jane started, bringing up a conversation that they had many times over the years.

"Then those pathetic kings of ours wouldn't stop calling me and would become a thousand times more annoying," Bella shot back, and the twins couldn't help but nod in agreement. "Besides, I'm old. I don't have the capability of dealing with all this newfound technology with all of those delicate little buttons."

This made Jane and Alec roll their eyes, only to be distracted when there was some kind of noise coming from inside the Denali house. They glanced towards the building, both becoming serious and stoic once they remembered they weren't alone. What was most confusing to the twins was Bella's glance towards the house, which was filled with absolute longing. The look was gone quickly, however, and she turned back to the twins.

A part of Bella couldn't believe she was saying this. All she wanted was to be able to chill with the twins, steal them from Aro, and fawn over them like the two little kids a part of them still were. And here they were! Away from Volterra, most likely on Aro's orders, which meant this would have been a prime opportunity for the queen. Instead, she was going to have to toss that opportunity into the garbage. "Alec, Jane, for whatever reason you're here, I'm going to have request you to leave."

"What?" both twins asked at the exact same time, looking like someone had just slapped them across the face.

"Yeah." Bella took a deep breath, let it out, and then continued. "You're not really welcome here because you killed their mom and all-"

"That's because she created an immortal child!" Jane dared to hiss at her queen, but only because she was outraged and hurt that Bella was trying to get rid of them.

"Really?" Bella asked, doing a doubletake. "Shit, that's bad." Ugh, why did things have to be so complicated? Why couldn't she just meet her mate, have her fall head over heels in love, and then happily fuck Irina's brains out every day for the rest of eternity? No murdered mother, no hate for the Volturi, no worry about Bella's identity being revealed…

"We have to stay with you anyways, it's on Aro's orders," Alec added, also sounding a little sullen. With good reason, as this was the first time in their entire existence that Bella was trying to send them away.

Bella frowned, incredibly unhappy and irritated with the entire situation. And while she knew she could override Aro's order with an order of her own, that would not only reveal her identity, but it was clear that it would also hurt the twins.

She really, really hated hurting the twins.

Having no idea what to do next, she glanced helplessly towards the Denali house, only to find Tanya staring at them, clearly waiting for something to happen, with Kate scowling and appearing to almost pout. Eleazar had his arms around Carmen, and both were watching uneasily, while Laurent was nowhere to be seen-probably off sulking and licking his wounds after Irina's rejection like the little bitch he was.

Irina. Irina's expression hurt most of all. She was glaring at the twins with such hatred, but there was also a haunted grief in her eyes, a grief Bella knew vampires would never fully get over. It broke Bella's heart to know that her kids were the cause, even if their mother had messed up. If it had been anyone else but them to have caused that expression on her angel's face, she would have tortured then killed the fuck out of them, no questions asked.

But it wasn't just anyone. It was Alec and Jane, one of the few people she actually outright enjoyed whenever they met. She could count how many people were like them just using her hands.

 _Let's see, there's Irina, Alec, Jane, Benjamin, Tia, Maggie, Eleazar...still not sure about the rest of the Denalis yet, but they seem pretty chill...and I love the Amazons...who else is there? Is there anyone else? Marcus had been pretty cool, till Didyme had been killed...damn it, I still need to find the fucker who did that...ugh, shit, focus Bella. Problem right in front of your face, right here, right now. Huge problemo, like humungasaurus huge. Shit, I just wanna hold Irina, make out with her, make love to her...still need to talk my way into her bed, though. And that probably won't happen with Alec and Jane here. So how the hell am I…?_

"Oh, hellfire!" Bella exclaimed as she threw her hands up in the air, surprising everyone, even those back in the house. She put a hand on each twin's shoulder and got right down to business. "Look, guys, I found my mate. She's gorgeous and perfect and all angelic and shit, but the problem is, she hates your asses. And while you both know hatred is the last thing I feel towards you, I still wanna keep the peace, you know? Maybe one day you two can be civil around each other, but that day is most likely centuries down the line, and I haven't even had a chance to just chill out and hold her yet, things have been so fucking hectic. Not to mention there's this fucking french assface who is still trying to make a move on her, and I'm not allowed to kill him. Get it?"

Alec and Jane blinked, both stunned and confused, and exchanged a look with each other before focusing back on Bella. "Sort of," they said as one.

God damn it, the two were vampires! What wasn't there to get? It's not like Bella had been talking too fast to understand or anything, right?

Before Bella could try to think of what else to say, Irina was suddenly by her side, an arm wrapping around Bella's waist. Bella turned to look at her in surprise, but, unable to help her own reaction, that look quickly turned to lovesick as she wrapped her arms loosely around Irina's neck from Irina's side. Had they been alone, she would have started purring and rubbing herself all over Irina, delighted that Irina had come out and not just initiated contact, but did so in a way that claimed Bella. What could Bella say? Her mating instincts were a bit old fashioned.

"Please, just leave us alone," Irina said tightly as she struggled to stay polite, if only for her mate. "Can't you see that your guard member is happy here with us? If you could just leave…" _Or maybe just disappear or die,_ a darker part of Irina couldn't help but add, "Why must you come for her?"

Jane and Alec barely focused on Irina, instead stuck on how goofy and love-struck their queen looked. To top it off, for her to be so happy with a member of one of the killjoy covens just sounded insane. They had never seen such a devoted look from their queen. It was a look that said Bella would do anything for Irina, and it worried them, if only because they were afraid she might be taken advantage of in some way.

Once again, Alec and Jane exchanged a look, with countless words passing between them. Finally, they turned back to stare seriously at the two women.

"We can't," Alec said at last.

"Aro's orders are final," Jane added when Bella opened her mouth to protest. And judging by how quickly Bella's mouth snapped shut instead of stating how she was the exception, the twins knew Bella hadn't told the Denalis just who she was.

"But perhaps, we can compromise," Alec suggested, once again pouring on the charm. Immediately, Bella's instincts reacted, making Bella tighten her grip on Irina and let out a warning growl. A growl that ended as quickly as it began, because what the fuck was she doing, growling at Alec of all people? The cute little boy whose cheeks she wanted to pinch like any stereotypical grandma.

"Oh? And how do you plan on compromising?" Tanya's icy voice asked, and just like that, the entire coven was now standing on the grass only a few feet away, Laurent included. Bella couldn't stop herself from baring her teeth at the man, seeing as he had stopped within touching distance of Irina, and everyone but Irina seemed to take notice, Jane especially so. She scowled and considered torturing the man, as anyone who Bella hated, Jane was more than happy to hate too.

Sadly, Alec put a restraining hand on Jane's shoulder, warning her not to, before turning to the coven leader. "Due to Aro's orders, we're not allowed to leave Bella alone until she returns to the capital. However, we don't have to stand by Bella's side twenty four seven."

"And your point?" Tanya all but hissed. She really hated the Witch Twins, and she really hated the idea of them being anywhere near her. Despite how hard Bella had tried, had she not been Irina's mate, Tanya would have simply declared the vampire too much trouble and kicked her out of the coven for bringing the twins anywhere near them.

"My point is that, unless there is an emergency, we won't have to take a single step into your house," Alec continued, putting a hand over Jane's mouth before she could unleash a scathing comment. "We also won't have to interact with anyone outside of Bella as well. We will do our best to follow your rules, animal drinking aside, and will try our utmost best to be polite and respectful at all times. Perhaps, in time, we can even come to a truce of sorts, if only for Isabella's sake."

Alec's words made Bella light up, just thinking about the possibility, and a huge grin appeared on her face. She even started to bounce a little. "Yeah, that's a great idea!" She quickly turned to look at Tanya, coming as close to pleading as a Volturi Queen could. "Please say yes, Tanya. I personally guarantee they won't cause you or your coven any trouble." Although she silently didn't count Laurent among them, as she planned on finding a way to get rid of the man eventually.

"Bella…" Irina started, clearly very, very unhappy with the idea.

Immediately, Bella's red eyes took on a pleading, smoky quality as she turned to her mate, completely blindsiding the younger vampire. "Please, Angel," she purred. "I know it will be hard on you, but it will mean the world to me." She leaned in to kiss Irina behind the ear, adding, "And of course, I'll do whatever it takes to make you happy, content, and satiated regardless of them, but if you allow them to stay...I'll go above and beyond." As Bella added this, she took Irina's earlobe into her mouth and bit lightly.

Irina shuddered, her arousal suddenly so strong that, even if everyone had been miles away, they still would have been able to smell it. Even had they not, it would have been clear that Irina was on the verge of agreeing.

Behind Bella, Laurent gagged, giving his two cents on the idea of Bella putting the moves on who he still considered his. And so, Bella smoothly, without even loosening her hold on Irina, bent her leg back to kick him hard in the balls. The man went down with a silent scream, and immediately, not only did Bella seem pleased, but Jane's and Alec's eyes lit up at seeing someone Bella clearly hated in severe pain.

Tanya's eyes moved calculatingly between the twins and Bella, realizing that there was quite a bond between them. However, she still hated the idea of the twins anywhere near her. She turned to the rest of her coven, mainly focusing on Eleazar, and silently prompted him for his input with her eyes.

"We should say no," Kate grumbled first, her voice incredibly low as she crossed her arms over her chest. "But I don't want to fuck things up with Bella, 'cause she's actually pretty cool."

"Eleazar?" Tanya asked softly, seeing that the man was still thinking hard on his answer.

"I cannot guarantee that there will be no troubles in our future, Tanya," Eleazar said with a sigh, clearly wording his answer carefully. He did not want to give too much away and incur the wrath of Isabella, after all. "However, what I can guarantee is that Alec and Jane truly love Bella and will do anything for her; they will not do anything that could hurt her, even indirectly. Unless you were to do something extreme, I do not see why they would feel any desire to harm anyone in this coven." _Save for Laurent,_ both Eleazar, Carmen, and Tanya couldn't help but think at the same time, knowing how much Bella, and therefore the twins, would prefer the man being dead.

Tanya turned back to the twins, Bella, and Irina, who seemed to be pretending they couldn't hear what was being said. And then Tanya said a simple four words, words that she really hoped she wouldn't regret. "Fine, they can stay."

"Yes!" Bella cheered, jumping up and pumping her fists like a little kid, before grabbing Irina and pulling her into an excited, passionate kiss that Irina was quickly swept along in. Even the twins grinned-possibly at Tanya's words, or maybe Bella's reaction-although they tried to hide it.

Tanya just truly hoped she wouldn't regret agreeing. Sadly, a part of her knew she was going to.

Bella, on the other hand, felt like things might finally turn out alright.

Her belief, of course, would soon be proven wrong.


	9. Chapter 9

_Author's Note: Still on a roll, kinda like where this one is going. Hope you all will too._

* * *

Chapter 9

The twins soon left to find supplies so they could build their own house, and the rest of the coven went back inside of the house to do their own thing, leaving Bella and Irina standing outside alone.

Immediately, Bella turned her attention to her mate.

"Irina! You're finally mine!" Bella exclaimed with childish glee, sweeping Irina up into another hug and swinging her around as everything between the twins and the Denalis came to a close. Tightening her grip on her blonde angel, Bella grinned up into Irina's face. "Now, what do you want to do next? Where do you want to go?"

"How about my room?" Irina said, unable to stop a smile at Bella's clear enthusiasm.

"Oh, yeah? You wanna show me your bed, huh?" Bella asked, smirking suggestively as she eyed Irina up and down.

Rolling her eyes, Irina slapped Bella on the shoulder. "Not like that, you perv. I want us to have a talk first. Now, are you going to put me down anytime soon?"

"Nope." And with a grin that looked almost innocently childish, Bella threw Irina over her shoulder and took off towards the Denali house. "Just tell me where to go, angel," Bella added as she all but kicked the door down and continued inside.

"You're paying for that," Irina replied, seeing the damage done to the door.

"Fine with me. Now, where do I go next?" Bella wondered out loud as she looked around the spacious house.

"Upstairs."

So Bella started to head upstairs, but not before catching sight of Laurent. She paused, making clear eye contact with the douche, and then very carefully gave him the middle finger. His eyes darkened with anger, but of course, Bella couldn't stop there.

"She's mine, fuckface," Bella announced with glee, and then focused back on her task of getting Irina into her bedroom.

"Bella!" Irina exclaimed as she caught a fleeting glance of a furious Laurent, but Bella could only laugh maniacally as she continued up the stairs. She then paused, catching sight of a bedroom that she felt fit Irina perfectly.

"Is this yours?" Bella asked, turning around so that her back was now facing the bedroom, but so was Irina's face.

"Yes, but we need to talk about-" Irina cut herself off with a squeak as Bella suddenly threw her on the bed, slammed and locked the door, and appeared on top of Irina, straddling her, in the length of a single human heartbeat. "Bella!" Irina didn't even know what to say at this point; her mate just seemed to go at her own, very quick pace, and it felt like nothing could stand in Bella's way.

"Hey," Bella murmured, leaning in, her hair cascading over the two of them, almost as if Bella was cutting Irina off from the outside world. Her red eyes seemed to glow, and seemed to soften with adoration as she stared down at the only woman for her. "I really want to kiss you right now." She took a deep, unnecessary breath before adding, "You have no idea how long I've waited for you. For this."

Irina's heart swelled as she thought about it.

For two thousand years, she had been alone, and not having a mate had all but killed her despite always having her two sisters by her side. But Bella...this woman had been alive so much longer than her, and had spent much more time alone. While it appeared that she might have had Jane and Alec at her side for a long time, how much longer had the ancient spent completely alone?

"Please?" Bella asked, leaning in even closer, so close that their lips were centimeters away from touching.

Even if Irina wanted to, there was no way she could have denied Bella. While she never said a word in response, Irina simply cupped the back of Bella's head and pulled her in for the kiss both of them had been craving so much.

This wasn't just a simple kiss for Bella; the ancient actually felt moved. Complete even. And yeah, the kiss also made her seriously fucking horny, but what kind of mates would they be if they couldn't get each other all riled up?

But damn did Irina taste good. Feel good. Sound good. Because Bella definitely made Irina gasp and moan as she dominated her mate, needing to explore every inch and corner of Irina's mouth.

Irina tightened her grip on Bella, needing to bring Bella closer, and it took all Bella had not to rip Irina's clothes off-because Irina probably wouldn't want that. Well, Irina would want that, very much so, just not so soon. Despite being a succubus, Irina seemed the to be the romantic type, the kind of woman who didn't want to just jump into bed with the person who she was going to spend the rest of her life with. She would want to talk more, cuddle and kiss, and then finally fuck at least a few hours after they had first met. Irina had said that they needed to talk first, after all.

Bella could do slow. Sure, she had never gone slow with anyone before, but she was determined to prove she could now. She was going to go so damn slow that Irina would be begging Bella to hurry up and take her already.

But for now...let's see how far Bella could go.

Breaking that deliciously perfect kiss with her mate, Bella moved her mouth to Irina's neck, kissing and nibbling right where the pulsepoint would have been had Irina still been human.

Irina let out a low moan, tilting her head to the side for more access, and wrapped her legs possessively around the brunette. Already, Irina was feeling overwhelmed; Bella's kiss had seemingly burned away every brain cell she had while electrifying every nerve ending. It felt like all Irina could do was feel and respond to what Bella was doing, her pleasure almost to a painful degree.

All she could do was want more. _Need_ more. And when Bella's mouth moved to Irina's neck, Irina mimicked the gesture, her lips finding Bella's skin, already needing to bite Bella and mark her as Irina's for the rest of eternity. However, marking was only done during sex, which meant a simple thing in Irina's dazed head; they needed to start fucking _now._ Needed to become one and mark each other so no one would ever think they were anything but mates.

Bella's hand slipped under Irina's shirt, and Irina groaned at how amazing the simple contact felt. Needing more, Irina grabbed Bella's hand by the wrist, moving it higher so it now covered Irina's bra-clad breast.

This time, Bella was the one to groan. She nearly went to town and snuck a hand under the bra, only to pause when she felt rip Bella's fly open, sending the button ricocheting across the room.

"Whoa there, sexy," Bella muttered, grabbing Irina's hands and pinning them above the blonde's head. "You might want to think about what you're doing there." She couldn't even believe she was saying it, but she had to. She could almost feel how overwhelmed Irina was, and knew she probably wasn't thinking straight. If Irina had been a simple fuck, then Bella wouldn't have cared and just let Irina take off all her clothes. However, Irina wasn't a fuck; she was Bella's mate. And Bella didn't want to fuck up their relationship, especially so soon. She wanted Irina to be completely coherent when they had sex for the first time.

"I know exactly what I'm doing," Irina shot back, struggling against Bella's ironclad hold on her.

Bella, seeing the clouded, dazed look in Irina's dark eyes, simply murmured, "Do you really? Think for a sec, angel. Think and breathe." Her libido was currently screaming obscenities at her, but she didn't care. Irina's needs would always come first.

For a moment, the stupid part that had suddenly appeared in Irina's brain demanded that she keep struggling. To struggle until she broke free, ripped off Bella's clothes, and fucked Bella for the next three weeks straight, at least.

Then, Bella pulled away. Not enough to lose her grip on the blonde, but enough so that Irina was no longer overwhelmed by the brunette's scent, and was no longer distracted by Bella's body pressing down on her own.

Slowly, Irina realized just what she had been doing. It was actually embarrassing, how she had been acting like a dog in heat. What happened to her original plan? The talk they were going to have so that the two of them could come to an understanding before fucking each other's brains out?

"You doing okay?" Bella asked, gritting her teeth, as it was becoming almost physically painful to not simply take her mate.

"Yeah," Irina panted, her body relaxing as finally was able to get her brain working again. "I'm doing pretty great, actually."

Bella gave Irina a small, cocky grin as she released Irina's wrists and sat up. "Don't worry, sexy. You weren't the first to lose all ability to reason around me."

That immediately reminded Irina how many other lovers that Bella had been with, and something in Irina snapped. She grabbed Bella by her shirt and stunned the ancient vampire by flipping them over so that now Bella was on her back, Irina straddling her.

"Right. And now that I'm clear-headed again…" Irina started, ripping Bella's shirt in half, right down the middle. "Let's get your clothes off."

Realizing that they were still going to have sex right then and there was the best thing that could have ever happened to Bella. It was like bells started ringing, a demonic children's choir started singing, and the gates of hell were personally opened by Satan just for Bella to frolic in for a day and be deemed an honorary devil for the rest of eternity, since she was still alive and all. She always did think heaven would be a snoozefest.

"Fuck yeah," Bella said with a charming grin that even Irina could barely handle, grabbing Irina's own shirt and pulling it over the blonde's head. The second it was out of the way, the bra was next, and Bella froze, staring at her half naked lover with burning desire. Even in all of her years, she had never seen someone more gorgeous than Irina. The blonde wasn't an angel; she was a goddess. And those breasts were begging to be worshipped.

Irina, who had been reaching towards Bella to push the shirt off of the ancient's shoulders, gasped in surprise as she was suddenly pulled tight against Bella's body. A second later, Bella was kissing one of Irina's breasts, her hand finding the other, making Irina let out a purr of pleasure.

Damn, did Bella need to hear more of that. So she started to tease Irina even more, licking and caressing and nibbling the woman's breasts everywhere save for Irina's nipples. Irina would have to beg for that. And Bella was definitely planning on making Irina beg.

Just the thought of making Irina beg got Bella even more worked up. She pressed her thigh upwards, grinding it against the apex of Irina's thighs and making the blonde whimper.

"Wait, Isabella…" Irina moaned, then let out a cry as Bella pressed her thigh even harder against Irina's already soaked core, excited by hearing her full name coming from her angel's lips. Irina's hands were pushing urgently now, trying to get Bella's shirt off, and only just succeeded. "I need...naked…" she managed to gasp.

 _Oh, I'll get you naked alright,_ Bella thought with a hungry growl. She needed Irina under her, naked, begging, coming…

Bella flipped them over so she was on top, planning on ripping Irina's pants right off of her. Irina was struggling with Bella's pants as well, at an angle where she couldn't do much more than try to push them off of Bella's gloriously tight ass. The anticipation both made the sexual tension higher, to the point where they couldn't stop moving and grinding against each other, both desiring as much bodily contact as possible.

"Please!" Irina groaned with frustration. "I need to have you…"

"You can have me any way you want, sexy," Bella purred, her hand moving to cup Irina intimately over her underwear. "And I, of course, can have-"

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Bella considered ignoring it and it would have worked, as Irina was too focused on Bella to even hear it. However, whoever it was knocked again, and this time, spoke as well.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt your sexytimes and all, but it's urgent. We kinda need to talk." Kate paused, then added. "Now."

"Fuck!" Bella snarled, rolling off of Irina.

Would she ever catch a break?


	10. Chapter 10

_Author's Note: Okay, everyone, don't get your hopes up. I don't want to jinx it or anything, but I just might be getting back into things. Not sure if it'll last, so I'm just trying to ride out on whatever inspiration I can grab. Thanks for being patient with me._

* * *

Chapter 10

"What?" Bella demanded as she pulled Irina's bedroom door open, nearly ripping it right off the hinges. To think, she had been so damn close to finally having her mate, and now she had to deal with another fucking interruption. It didn't help that Bella's libido wasn't calming down, and she was in that 'need to fuck' state that was threatening to drive her mad.

Kate was standing on the other side of the door. Upon seeing Bella appear in nothing but a bra and some jeans, her mouth dropped open. She couldn't stop herself from blatantly staring at Bella, her mouth all but watering. "Damn. Talk about sexy," she muttered at last, practically devouring Bella's body with her eyes.

Bella arched her eyebrows at Kate's words, which had taken a little bit of Bella's irritation off, but didn't get to remind Kate what she had just interrupted. In less than a second, Irina had appeared in front of Bella, shielding the half naked ancient from Kate's gaze.

"Kate, eyes off! She's mine!" Irina hissed, baring her teeth at her sister. She was not about to let Kate enjoy her mate in any way, especially when Irina hadn't gotten a chance to thoroughly enjoy Bella in _every_ way.

Immediately, Kate took a step away from Irina, just in case Irina would try to take a swipe at her. "It's not my fault your super sexy mate answered the door half naked!" she protested. "I can only exert so much self control!"

"Damn it, just shut your eyes. And Bella, where is your shirt?" Irina whirled to glare at her mate. In response, Bella only arched her eyebrows and gestured to the ripped up scraps of cloth near the bed.

For a moment, Irina simply simmered. Had she been human, she would have been completely red with a mix of embarrassment and fury. She started to say something to Bella, who covered her mouth with her hand.

"You can't blame me for this one, babe. You _are_ the one who ripped off my shirt," Bella said, eyes glinting with wicked humor.

Irina let out a huge breath of air, forcing her body to relax, only to notice Kate was still checking out her mate. "Kate!" Irina snapped, taking a step towards her sister.

Realizing how quickly things could get out of hand and not wanting to be the cause, Bella looped an arm around Irina's waist and pulled her backwards, keeping the feisty blonde pinned against Bella's body. Irina struggled momentarily, which quickly caused Bella's eyes to darken to black, feeling incredibly turned on. Had Kate not been there, Bella would have pinned Irina to the floor and ravished Irina thoroughly.

Which reminded her…

Bella reluctantly tore her eyes from Irina to meet Kate's gaze. For a moment, Kate froze, her body feeling unnaturally heavy. She would never be able to fully describe what she had felt right then, but all she could say was that Bella was powerful, incredibly so. Her gaze alone made it impossible for Kate to move, think, or even breathe, and once released, Kate would wonder if this was a power of Bella's.

Thankfully, Kate was released soon enough, despite still staring into Bella's eyes. As she tried to figure out just what had happened, Bella said, "Well, just what has to be so important that you disturbed us, Katrina?"

Had Bella ever heard Kate's full name before? Well, whatever, Kate had more important things to focus on. One of them being not to openly stare at Bella, lest her sister rip her head off. Not to mention why Kate was here in the first place.

"Oh, uh, right." Kate struggled to get her thoughts in order, glancing towards the wall so Irina wouldn't think she was staring again. "The urgent business...um, what was it again?"

Irina let out a low, angry growl, her eyes turning black.

"Hey, don't get pissy, it's your mate's fault for mindfucking me!" Kate snapped defensively, making Bella raise an eyebrow.

 _Fuck, I didn't actually do that, did I?_ Bella thought, a little worried. _Well, I had been completely distracted by Irina, and I had been pissed we had been interrupted...shit, maybe I did. Or maybe Kate was just talking about my sexiness?_ Bella wasn't sure which was worse, especially in Irina's mind. Seeing as her blonde angel seemed to think Kate meant Bella's sexiness and grow even more possessive, Bella decided that her own sexiness was definitely the biggest concern. It definitely didn't help the fact that had Irina not been her mate, she would have pursued Kate too, bunny muncher or not. The woman was definitely sexy in her own right, and Bella would have been curious to see how her electric powers would have played into things during sex. It would have been a _shocking_ experience, to say the least. Definitely hot as all get out, too.

Okay, it's official; it was a really good thing to have met Irina first. Bella knew her angel wouldn't take the news that Bella had fucked her sister too well. Hell, she doubted Irina would even take the knowledge that Bella had thought about Kate's power and having sex in the same sentence, Irina was apparently that possessive.

Of course, that possessiveness could make things super sexy in so many situations. Once they had gotten into having sex daily, Bella might actually consider playing with that possessiveness for a bit. She loved how riled up and feisty Irina could get.

"...Isabella here…"

At hearing those two words from Kate's mouth, Bella knew it couldn't be good. Her head, which had been busy nuzzling Irina's neck as Bella's imagination went wild with all sorts of sexual fantasies, jerked up to gaze at Kate with confusion.

"Wait, what about me?" Bella asked, tuning back into the real world. It was also then that Bella realized Irina was trying to pull Bella's hands out from under her shirt, hands that had been slowly but surely creeping up to Irina's breasts. "Shit, sorry angel," Bella said, moving her hands back to a safer spot, which was apparently gripping Irina's hips.

"It's fine, just wait until we have some privacy," Irina replied, before turning back to Kate. Irina was still clearly annoyed with her sister, but at least she didn't try to kill her. Instead, she simply said, "Repeat it, Kate."

"Apparently, Isabella here might have a few enemies," Kate said, trying to hide her mischievous smirk. "Some chick appeared out of nowhere, following your mate's scent," with this, she gestured at Bella. "Anyways, she started ranting, threatening to burn us all. There was something about revenge, and she even said something about a harem…?" At this revelation, Kate seemed torn between amusement and confusion, maybe even a little awe.

Bella's eyes widened with the words, her body stiffening, and this was enough to make Irina turn to glare up at Bella accusingly. "What do you know about this?" Irina demanded, pulling slightly out of Bella's arms.

"Something." Bella tightened her hold, refusing to let Irina get too far away from her. "But it's nothing too important, I promise you." Bella focused back on Kate, adding, "Where is she now?"

"Currently, she's on the ground, writhing in pain with all of her senses cut off." This time, Kate's lips twitched, a smirk threatening to escape. While Kate apparently still harbored some hatred for the twins, their reaction to the girl must have been hilarious. "They heard the woman's ramblings and came over to contain the threat."

"Great," Bella said, stopping a smile of pride just in case it rubbed Irina the wrong way. But what could Bella say? She loved her twins. Within a second, she switched from happy and prideful to serious, nearly giving the two sisters whiplash. "I'll take care of it." Once again, her emotions switched, this time to loving as she gazed down at her mate. "My past is my past, my angel," she murmured, nuzzling Irina behind the ear. "Know that you are the only one for me now, and you will be until the end of time."

Irina nearly melted at the sweet honest in Bella's voice, but managed to get a hold of herself enough to stay standing. She nodded shakily, making Bella beam with relief, before taking off towards wherever the woman and the twins were.

"Are you going to stand there all day, or are you going to join me in witnessing the action?" Kate asked with a wiggle of her eyebrows and an unashamed grin, making Irina want to smack her upside the head.

"Obviously, I'm going to follow her." Irina paused, her eyes darkening with possessive fury as she came to another realization. "Especially since Bella still isn't wearing a fucking shirt!"

Kate's eyes widened in surprise at one of the rare expletives coming from Irina's mouth, but wisely kept her mouth shut as Irina grabbed the biggest shirt from her closet that she could find and raced outside, after her mate.

She was too late. Bella was already standing in front of the captured female, not to mention the witch twins and Irina's entire coven, completely shirtless. The instinctive part of her wanted to attack anyone who dared look at her mate, but the rational part of her made her turn her ire on Bella herself for rushing out of the house without a shirt.

"Ow?" Bella said, a little unsurely as Irina shoved the large, billowy black shirt into Bella's stomach, hard enough to cause some cracks on a weaker vampire.

"You say I'm the only one for you now, yet you let other people see you half naked?" Irina hissed back lowly in reply. Damn it, she knew a part of it was irrational, but she didn't even get to thoroughly taste Bella's body yet. Maybe a few years after Bella had been marked would calm Irina down, but right now, all she could see was her half naked mate standing in front of her, allowing eight other vampires to see her. She really wanted to make it clear that Bella was hers, physically if she had to, despite the fact that she knew the twins didn't seem to view Bella as a sexual object, Eleazar and Carmen were mated, the new vampire was clearly indisposed of and couldn't even see Bella, and Laurent would never be able to see Bella in a sexual light because he hated her. Her emotions were only heightened by her caged lust, annoyance at being interrupted, and her desperate desire to mark and claim Bella in every way possible.

Basically, Irina was an emotional mess. God, she felt like a newborn again, and it was horrible.

"Oh, yeah," Bella sounded surprised, as if she had no idea that walking around shirtless was a bad idea, let alone enough of a problem to get Irina all upset. She started to grin as she stared at her mate, thrilled with the knowledge that she had just an effect on Irina and that Irina wanted her so badly, if the fire in Irina's black eyes was enough of an indication.

Damn, what Bella wouldn't do to just have her way with her angel already...they wouldn't get out of bed, or wherever they had started fucking, for days.

Irina bared her teeth, not even noticing Bella's desire for her. Instead, she was focused on the fact that Bella was grinning at her, and still didn't have her shirt on. Composing herself, Irina crossed her arms over her chest and arched an eyebrow. "Would you rather I take off my shirt as well then?" she asked scathingly.

The possessive inside of Bella fire roared to life. Without a thought, she grabbed Irina and jerked the smaller vampire against her body. "Mine!" she roared, surprising everyone-save for the twins-with the amount of power behind the word. Then she crushed her lips against Irina's, taking and possessing her with just her mouth, making it clear that the only one allowed to see Irina in any state of undress was Bella, and Bella alone.

Irina kissed Bella back just as passionately, her hands fisting on Bella's shoulders to stop herself from digging her nails into Bella's skin. She made sure Bella knew that she belonged to Irina just as much as Irina belonged to her, starting a fight with lips and tongue despite knowing that Bella would dominate her in the end.

As she reclaimed her mate and banished any possibility of Irina taking her shirt off from Irina's mind, Bella's desires once again let themselves be known. Unable to help herself, a hand moved to one of Irina's perfect breasts as she imagined finally fitting herself between her angel's thighs and pleasuring her in a way that Irina would never forget.

Laurent's eyes darkened to black as he witnessed the scene, and he itched to attack and kill Bella. Alec, of course, noticed, and was more than happy to turn his gift on the french vampire as well, unconcerned with upsetting the treaty between them and the Denalis if it meant keeping his Queen safe. Before his creeping gift could reach the man, Jane cleared her throat, breaking up the overexcited couple and causing the hatred to fade from Laurent's gaze. Knowing he couldn't use his gift when Laurent's body posture showed no sign of attack, Alec withdrew his gift reluctantly.

"Forgive me," Jane said with a quick bow, only just managing not to add "My Queen" as Bella's annoyed gaze rested on her. Still, the bow was enough to raise quite a few eyebrows. "I just felt we should deal with the problem at hand before things get too...energetic."

"Right," Bella said, her voice a mix of grumble and sigh as she turned to the woman, pulling on the shirt Irina had given her.

There wasn't much that a normal vampire would be able to discern from the captive vampire, as the woman wore ratty and ill fitting clothes. Not to mention that her scent was completely covered by mud, dirt, and heavy perfumes.

And, oh yeah, her head was currently covered by a hood that those who were about to be executed wore, something many vampires hadn't seen since the middle ages. It had to have been Jane that brought it with her all the way from Volterra, but why, Bella didn't know and wasn't about to question.

That's right. A normal vampire wouldn't have been able to understand who this particular woman was, but Bella wasn't a normal vampire. No, she was actually one of the lustiest women known to man, capable of knowing a woman's curves and body shape with just a glance. To make Bella even more formidable, she remembered every curve, dip, ridge, and swell of every woman she had ever slept with, and would be able to recognize that body even from a good distance. And this was a body Bella knew well, one she had enjoyed every inch of time and time again, her pleasure spanning decades.

Fuck.

Hoping she was wrong, despite knowing that being wrong was impossible, Bella looked over at Jane. "Remove the hood," she told the girl seriously.

With a nod, Jane loosened the strings and did just that, earning two gasps. As one, Bella and Laurent spoke a single name:

"Victoria!"


	11. Chapter 11

_Author's Note: Hey guys, sorry for the long wait, but I'm now recovering pretty damn well, and felt like I could actually write again. Thanks for your patience, and hope you enjoy!_

* * *

Chapter 11

Immediately, upon Bella and Laurent's exclamation, the entire Denali coven turned to stare at the two in disbelief as Bella and Laurent exchanged a glare, unhappy that there was yet another connection between them. However, it was Irina who spoke first in a quiet, tense voice, her eyes focused solely on Bella.

"So you know her?"

Had Bella been human, she would have thrown up, she would have felt so nervous and nauseous. After all, out of everyone who could have popped up, did it really have to be Victoria? And to pop up before Bella had fucked and claimed Irina, of all times!

Bella averted her eyes from Irina, only to meet the half crazed eyes of Victoria. Victoria was staring up at her hopefully, devotedly, thankfully completely silent. "Yes, I know her," Bella admitted, refusing to lie. Not that she could in the first place, what with the evidence being right in front of the entire coven.

Alec and Jane kept close to Victoria as the vampire's eyes lit up, realizing who the woman was and how crazy she could get. Their eyes stayed on Bella, worry glinting in their red depths as they wondered how Bella was going to get out of the situation.

"How?" Irina asked, her voice still soft, but the command for information so clear in her voice that it made the twins stiffen automatically. Nobody was supposed to get away with talking to their Queen like that, and if Irina hadn't been Bella's mate, they would have unleashed their powers on her on the spot.

"She's from my old coven," Laurent interrupted before Bella could speak. Had Laurent been anyone else, Bella would have been thankful, as despite her quick mind, she couldn't think of what to say without making her look like complete and utter shit. "As you all know, I was sent to you all by the Cullens-" Of course, of course those killjoy fuckers had something to do with this asshole meeting Irina, still trying to claim Irina, and Bella now having to clean up the mess without murdering the fucker. Damn it, if they weren't considered Irina's cousins, Bella would have just stormed down there that very second and slaughtered the lot of them. "As I didn't agree with what my other coven mates were doing. Those coven mates were James and Victoria, and they were hunting the coven's human. From what I'm guessing, James had been killed trying to kill the human, while clearly, Victoria had survived, and for some reason ran here."

The other vampires all nodded as they listened to his explanation, but all eyes were still fixed on Bella.

"And you, Bella? How do you know Victoria?" Irina asked coolly.

Never before had the twins seen their Queen squirm so much.

"As you all might have guessed, I was kind of a player when I was younger," Bella muttered, unable to meet Irina's eyes. "And at one point, I was kinda involved with Victoria's old coven."

"Meaning?" Irina demanded as she started to realize just what Bella was getting at. Surely her mate hadn't actually fucked this crazy bitch, right?

"Well, Victoria's old coven was kinda my harem," Bella said in a rush. "It was just in fun and all, for me anyways, but apparently the majority of the coven felt otherwise. The males of the coven were killed quickly by the females because the males were too jealous about the females getting fucked, and then the females all started killing each other because they all wanted to be my favorite. When I realized what was happening, I just snatched my actual favorite because I didn't want her to die ran back to Volterra. I'm guessing Victoria either was the final victor in that coven, or just ran from it."

This was how Heidi had ended up joining the Volturi, and it had been the final nail in the coffin that led to the whole "vampires shall not attempt to steal another vampire's mate" law. It had sounded like a pretty crazy experience at the time, and Bella's sons had been quite the group of grumpy bitches about it all, even trying to lecture Bella, their _mother and queen,_ about morals and not following her every whim. But their reaction seemed pretty tame to how Irina exploded right then.

" _What?_ Are you kidding me?" Irina screeched, stomping towards her mate. She knew she was mostly driven by jealousy, but as Victoria was being guarded by the twins at the moment, it wasn't like she could just kill the redhead in a fit of rage. So instead, Bella had to take the brunt of her emotion. "You mean to tell me that you fucked an entire coven to the point they became obsessed with you?"

"Only the girls!" Bella protested, holding up her hands in surrender.

"At least you know she's good in bed," Kate muttered, earning a disapproving glare from Tanya and eyes rolls of disgust from the twins. Thankfully, Irina was too busy raging at Bella to have heard Kate and to redirect her rage.

"God damn it, how horny can a single vampire be?" Irina continued to rant. She was all but shaking at this point.

"It was in the past. I'm different now. I have you," Bella said, her tone pleading as she rested her hands on Irina's shoulders, turning Irina to face her.

"Don't touch me!" Irina hissed, shoving Bella away from her. Bella let herself be shoved, but even though it was clear to all that she was doing it for Irina's benefit, the twins both stiffened with a hiss. The only thing that stopped them from attacking was the knowledge that Irina was Isabella's mate.

The hisses were still enough for everyone to notice, and suddenly everybody was silent and on edge. The Denali coven was eyeing the twins, Irina was still shaking, trying to figure out what to do with her pent up emotions, and Bella was looking around helplessly, trying to figure out what she was supposed to do next.

Victoria was the one to break the silence, despite her instincts telling her to keep her mouth shut. "No. No! It can't be in the past. You loved me! You loved my body! I was so good to you, and the way you fucked me...you felt something! You felt it for me! I would do anything for you-"

With a scream of rage and jealousy, Irina whirled and attacked Victoria. Victoria tried to fight back, but was unable to defend herself against the onslaught. Bella stood to the side, still useless, not wanting to anger her mate further. Alec and Jane didn't do anything either, knowing that subduing Bella's mate might upset their queen.

Laurent and Eleazar were the two to jump into the brawl and break it up, pulling Irina back just before she managed to rip off Victoria's head.

Bella stiffened, feeling an overwhelming desire to jerk the two men away from her mate, but realized how stupid that would be. Refusing to let her instincts rule, Bella hurried over. For a moment, she stared into Irina's eyes, seeing the turmoil of pain, jealousy, anger, and confusion in her eyes. Bella had seen it in others' eyes before, usually when Bella had stolen a mate away, if only for a night, but this was the first time she had felt bad about what she had done in the past. Without saying a word, she wrapped her arms around Irina's body, caging her mate's arms against her sides, and pulled her into a tight embrace.

As the twins went about putting Victoria back together-occasionally glaring at Laurent, Jane even sending some pain his way when he tried to help-Bella simply sat on the ground with Irina in her lap. All the queen could think to do was whisper apologies in Irina's ear, truly sorry Irina had to deal with the fucked up feelings. She didn't dare kiss her in comfort, not yet, unsure if Irina would explode again.

The apologies continued to pour from Bella's mouth; apologies for her playgirl ways, apologies for not finding Irina sooner, apologies for her age, apologies for Victoria and Heidi, apologies for being too hot to resist but assuring Irina that Irina was ten times hotter. She even apologized for Kate interrupting their near lovemaking with a promise to show Irina how much she means to Bella later. There were other apologies mixed in there, some that made absolutely no sense, like Bella apologizing for trying to eat a strawberry as a young vampire and then throwing up on one of her changelings, and an apology about finding Irina so fucking hot when Irina was mad, but they still calmed Irina nonetheless.

By the end of it, she felt like a foolish child, and she couldn't help burrow deeper into Bella's body. Not just for comfort, but simply because she felt too embarrassed to face the other vampires nearby. But Bella didn't seem to care about Irina's outburst, besides the fact that the outburst made it clear that Irina was incredibly upset. And Bella still kept calling Irina her angel; her feisty, sexy, avenging angel, but her angel nonetheless.

Eventually, Victoria was back in one piece, her arms held tightly from behind by Jane with Alec's hand over her mouth, all of Victoria's sense cut off by Alec's power. At one point, Bella and Irina had engaged in a serious makeout session, which infuriated Laurent, who had to look away. Tanya, who wanted to deal with the matter at hand, had to clear her throat several times to get Bella's attention.

"What should we do with her?" Tanya asked, gesturing towards Victoria.

Now, usually when she needed to question someone, Bella would grasp the vampire by the chin, look into their eyes, and use one of her many, fabulously awesome, sexy, and just plain awe inspiring powers to force the answers out of them. Sadly, seeing as Irina had nearly killed Victoria only seconds ago, Bella knew better than to touch the redhead unless she wanted to risk another explosion.

Turning to the twins, Bella prompted them into action with a quirked eyebrow while saying, "Let's figure out what she's talking about before making any decisions."

Both twins nodded, Alec pulling back his power as he took up Jane's place, holding Victoria's arms tightly behind her back. Jane crouched in front of Victoria with a cruel smile that would strike fear into the hearts of anyone, vampire or human.

The second Victoria was released from Alec's power, she started to babble all over again. She didn't get more than a sentence or two out before she started screaming, Jane's smile widening as she got to enjoy inflicting pain.

"Jane," Bella said in warning, knowing if she didn't run interference, the torture could go on for an eternity.

Jane stopped, which caused a lot of suspicion among the Denalis outside of Eleazar and Irina, Eleazar obviously because he already knew who Bella was, Irina because she was too blissed out in Bella's arms to notice. For the rest of the Denalis, it was clear that Jane had responded to an order and hadn't just stopped out of some kind of friendship she and Bella might have. Bella was definitely of high rank among the Volturi, but as far as the Denalis knew, the only one above Jane and Alec's rank was the Volturi Kings themselves. So what did that mean for Bella?

"Now, you are going to tell us, clearly and specifically, why you came here. If you start on a crazy rant again, I'm going to make you suffer. Is that understood?" Jane asked softly, her tone of voice only causing more fear.

Victoria looked over at Bella, the clear longing in her eyes making Irina hiss. Baring her teeth, she tightened her grip on Bella possessively, which made the ancient both happy and nervous. She still felt like one wrong move could mean possessive, avenging angel Irina might try to kill someone; whether that someone was Victoria or Bella herself remained undetermined at that particular moment in time.

Slowly, carefully, and with a restraint that made every vampire wonder how hard she was working to stay sane, Victoria explained the situation. Part of it-James's death-was already explained by Laurent, but Victoria went into more detail. Upon hearing that Victoria had tried to convince James not to do it, that her own power was telling him he was going to die if he pursued, Bella wanted to laugh out loud. Victoria's mate sounded like a fucking idiot, to the point Bella felt he deserved his death. While she hated the Cullens and their joy killing, fun shitting, fart eating ways, James had his chance to live and leave them alone, and he chose to rush into his death already on fire, cackling like a crazed idiot towards a hoard of hell's army itself.

No, not hell's army. The Cullens were way too lame to be compared in any way, shape, or form to something that Bella knew was some kickass cool bastards. James was simply a tiny mouse rushing towards a bunch of declawed cats who happened to still have their fangs, however dulled they might be.

However, Bella had to face a problem. The Cullens were stupid enough to kill one mate without killing the other. Bella did feel a little guilty for leaving Victoria's coven, which probably helped get Victoria into such a crazed state, therefore making Bella feel bad about killing her off. But there was also the fact that Bella couldn't leave such an unstable vampire alone, even if Bella wasn't even a member of the Volturi. Who knew what Victoria might do if left to her own devices?

Sighing, Bella knew what she had to do. She had to risk adding more drama and death to her life, not to mention risk her life itself, and risk the revelation of her secrets, not to mention upsetting Irina...fuck. Why was Bella doing this again?

Victoria let out another wail as she was tortured by Jane, probably because she started to babble again.

Oh yeah. Guilt. Damn it, since when did Bella feel guilt, anyways? While she was in love with Irina, she was starting to worry that Irina was making her a little too soft. But a part of Bella just couldn't help but go along for the ride anyways.

"How the gods have fucked me," Bella muttered in ancient greek. Turning to the twins, Bella let out a loud sigh and said, "Call Heidi and Felix and get them down here. They'll have to help deal with the situation."

Oh, the irony. Only moments ago, Bella had been laughing at James for rushing to his own death, and now here was Bella, doing the exact same thing.


End file.
